Liverpool 4 – Y Galatasaray
Reds:
Szoboszlai 25’, Ekitike 51’, Gravenberch 53’, Salah 62’Galatasaray: N/A
Pre-Match
I just hope this doesn’t go 120 minutes.
First Half
The most important news to share is that the Gala manager is wearing a club scarf, and all I can say is hell fucking yes, more of this please, managers.
There’s some early drama after Osimhen fakes a broken arm of all things after minimal contact. But he came back on with the tiniest bandage, so all is fine. And now the visiting team is dropping like flies. This won’t be an infuriating
90 or, Folwer forbid, 120 minutes. Nope.
Liverpool scored! A goal! And VAR didn’t overturn it somehow! It was a pretty sexy set piece routine from a corner; the ball was played low to a vacated area around the top of the box, and Dom Szoboszlai fired it home first time.
Liverpool really have their tails up, in a way that we’ve not seen much this season. Since the goal, Liverpool have hit the post and forced a couple of decent saves from the goalkeeper. Well, keep firing, assholes.
They did not, in fact, keep firing. Assholes.
But! Liverpool won a pen? Szoboszlai won the pen well after a late challenge just on the edge of the area! Mohamed Salah steps up and…has his weak-assed penalty saved. Ooof. Maybe the worst pen we’ve seen him take in a Liverpool shirt.
Second Half
Liverpool score the go-ahead goal early in the second half, and it’s a beauty! Wirtz plays an inch-perfect through ball for Salah to run onto, and he plays a perfect cross for Hugo Ekitike to poke home at the back post.
And Gravenberch makes it 3! Just a moment after the last, Salah is played in again, and hits a great first-time strike. The keeper palms it away, but Grav slots the rebound! A fourth is scored a moment later, but it’s chalked off for offside.
Salah scores a fourth, and it’s a beauty! He plays a quick 1-2 with Wirtz on the edge of the area, and then curls it into the far corner. What a strike!
With 66 minutes gone, Frimpong makes way for Curtis Jones.
Ten minutes later Gakpo comes on for Salah, who immediately heads down the tunnel. Hopefully he’s not injured.
Slot makes his last subs with just a few minutes remaining, and it’s a triple substitution. Chiesa, Ngumoha, and Nyoni come on for Ekitike, Wirtz, and Gravenberch.
Final Thoughts
Liverpool advance to the Champions League quarterfinals. Which is something most other English sides cannot say. That said, our reward will be facing off against PSG, who just beat Chelsea 8-2 on aggregate. And also happened to knock us out last year, when we were much better than we are now. Still, we can enjoy the ride while it lasts.
