Galatasaray vs Liverpool ref watch: Three decisions Clement Turpin got wrong
Liverpool’s 1-0 defeat to Galatasaray was officiated by referee Clement Turpin in what was a mixed performance from the UEFA official.
Liverpool conceded a penalty after 14 minutes after Barış Alper Yilmaz cut inside before Dominik Szoboszlai swung his arm into the forward’s face. It was a theatrical fall to the ground from the 25-year-old, but it was certainly a foul.
The penalty concession has seen Arne Slot questioned for starting Szoboszlai at right-back.
In the 88th minute, Liverpool were awarded a penalty themselves for what Clement Turpin believed was a penalty in real time. VAR referred him to the on-field monitor, and he correctly adjudged that Wilfried Singo had played the ball before he kicked Ibrahima Konate.
The defeat marks the first time Liverpool have lost back-to-back games since March 2025, when their penalty shootout defeat to PSG was immediately followed by the Carabao Cup final defeat to Newcastle United at Wembley.
After starting on the bench, Mohamed Salah’s concerning start to the season continued, and he looked poor when he was eventually brought on.
Play wasn’t stopped after Ibrahima Konate’s head injury
After Konate collided with Victor Osimhen during an aerial duel, the French defender fell to the floor clutching his head. Referee Turpin played one when, according to head injury protocol, play should have been stopped.
This point was highlighted by the fact that immediately afterwards, Curtis Jones was fouled and his face and head subsequently hit the ground with force. By not stopping play, another player suffered a potentially serious head injury.
More importantly, had Konate’s head been seriously injured, he would have been deprived of treatment longer than necessary.
In the 75th minute, play was stopped for a head injury suffered by Singo, but only because it was a foul and a free kick to Galatasaray.
Play was then inexplicably stopped for a non-head injury on Osimhen
In the 65th minute, the referee then stopped play while Liverpool had possession to allow medical treatment for Osimhen, despite the Nigerian striker being down on the pitch with a knee injury – not a head injury.
It’s possible that he stopped the play because Liverpool also had Hugo Ekitike down injured, but the inconsistency in the referee’s decision-making was the only consistent aspect of his performance.
Too many soft free kicks for a European tie
Although Premier League fans will have grown accustomed to how soft fouls have become in England, the Champions League has always been a competition where the threshold for fouls is a lot higher.
During Galatasaray vs Liverpool, however, the game took on a staccato rhythm as referee Turpin allowed the menacing atmosphere inside the Rams Park stadium to influence too many of his calls.
It was a game that saw many ‘fouls’ given for both teams for situations where players backed into their would-be tackler and dropped to the ground. Referees need to do more to crack down on this worryingly more prevalent form of simulation.
There were a few occasions when Jeremie Frimpong and Wilfried Singo bought fouls without any real challenges incoming. There were others, but those two were the most serious offenders in this case.