LIVERPOOL, England — There were less than two minutes on the clock at Anfield when Galatasaray’s Lucas Torreira found himself swarmed by three Liverpool players deep inside his own half. By the four-minute mark, goalkeeper Ugurcan Çakir had been harried into scuffing a clearance straight out of play. After five minutes, supporters were on their feet to applaud Florian Wirtz for winning a throw-in near the halfway line.
Each moment seemed like a mark of intent from Arne Slot’s side; a warning shot fired to prepare their opponents for the arduous task that lay ahead. As the Galatasaray players trudged down the tunnel at full-time — having lost this UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie 4-0 on the night and 4-1 on aggregate — it certainly looked like they’d got the message.
Those in red, meanwhile, soaked up the applause from their adoring public. Captain Virgil van Dijk pumped his fist in the direction of the Kop while Alisson Becker beamed as he embraced head coach Slot. The scenes stood in stark contrast with the aftermath of Sunday’s insipid 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur, after which Slot and his players were booed off the pitch having conceded yet another costly late goal. Just three days on from that chastening nadir, this felt like a significant night.
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In dismantling the Turkish Super Lig champions, Slot’s side secured the club’s passage to the Champions League quarterfinals for the first time since the 2021-22 season, when Jurgen Klopp’s team narrowly lost out in the final to Real Madrid.
More pertinently, though, this felt like the night that Anfield found its voice and, in doing so, helped Liverpool find themselves. In a season that has largely oscillated between mediocrity and misery, no stone has been left unturned in an attempt to establish exactly what has gone wrong for the reigning Premier League champs.
The minutiae of every tactical tweak has been forensically dissected, with changes of formation, personnel and even head coach put forward as possible solutions to address the Reds’ malaise. And yet Wednesday night showed that, above all else, Liverpool are best when the shackles come off.
No matter who is in the dugout, Liverpool are most irresistible when they go for the jugular and work in unison.
In Anfield’s eyes, there can be no substitute for hard-work, honest endeavour and the feeling that the collective is greater than the sum of its parts. Against Galatasaray, the synergy between those on the pitch and those in the stands ensured that all of those objectives were emphatically achieved.
Liverpool’s assignment heading into the second leg was admittedly not as daunting as the one facing Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham, who all had to overturn a three-goal deficit in order to reach the UCL’s last eight. Still, the Reds’ dismal display in the first leg in Istanbul last week, coupled with the apathy that stirred following Sunday’s Premier League setback, meant confidence was a precious commodity on Merseyside.
But, with UEFA having banned Galatasaray fans from attending due to their misconduct during their playoff with Juventus last month, the Anfield crowd relished its chance to take centre stage.
And it was fitting that it was Dominik Szoboszlai — who at the weekend implored supporters to stick with their team — who put Liverpool ahead inside 25 minutes with a sumptuous strike from the edge of the area. The goal — a product of a well-worked set piece — takes the Hungary international up to nine goal contributions in the Champions League this season (five goals, four assists).
The only midfielder with more in a single season in the competition for Liverpool is Steven Gerrard in 2007-08 (10 — six goals, four assists). Szoboszlai handed the hosts the chance to take the lead in the tie when he won a penalty shortly before the break, only for Mohamed Salah’s tame effort to be comfortably saved by Cakir.
Having encountered so much adversity this term, it would have been easy for Liverpool to wilt in the face of yet another stumbling block. But, roared on by a defiant home crowd, Slot’s side took to the field in the second half with renewed conviction.
Salah was central to their ebullient display, teeing up Hugo Ekitike to score Liverpool’s second and later rounding off the scoring with a magnificent curling effort that saw him become the first African player to notch 50 goals in the Champions League. Ryan Gravenberch — fresh from penning a new contract at Anfield — had been on the scene to force home the third.
In truth, Liverpool could — and perhaps should — have had more. They ended the night with an xG of 5.6, having registered 16 shots on target. The last time they had managed more shots on goal in a match was in Nov. 2016 vs. Watford (17 shots on goal in a 6-1 win).
Liverpool’s reward for such an accomplished display is a meeting with holders Paris Saint-Germain in the quarterfinals next month. In some quarters, last season’s round-of-16 exit at the hands of Luis Enrique’s side is perceived as the beginning of the Reds’ downturn in form. Slot will be hoping that, this season, a showdown with the French champions has the opposite effect.
“PSG have shown this season that they haven’t dropped a level and we showed tonight we can still perform at the level we were performing at for large parts of last season,” the Dutchman said in his postmatch news conference. “It gives us a lot of confidence that we have this performance but it’s not the first one this season, especially in Europe. We have to try to find the consistency, although I can already disappoint people because this performance is hardly possible to copy one more time. 5.0xG on a Champions League night, conceding 0.18xG, that’s not going to be easy to copy.”
Of course, Slot is right to urge caution. For Liverpool, this season has been littered with false dawns and PSG will pose a significantly more difficult challenge than Galatasaray.
But, if they are able to play with the same commitment and intensity they showed on Wednesday, Slot’s side will at least give themselves a chance of success. Liverpool’s latest win seemed to remind everyone connected with the club of who they are.
Going forward, Anfield must not let them forget.
