Liverpool are set to face Galatasaray in the Champions League knockout rounds on Wednesday
Liverpool are preparing for a crucial clash with Galatasaray in the Champions League on Wednesday. The Reds suffered a 1-0 defeat in the first leg of their round of 16 tie, leaving Arne Slot ’s team with a sizeable challenge to progress to the quarter-finals.
Liverpool will hope to use the Anfield crowd to their advantage but the team were booed during their last outing against Tottenham Hotspur. The Reds played out a disappointing 1-1 draw with Spurs, further harming their hopes of clinching a top four place.
Slot’s focus now returns to the Champions League as he looks to get Liverpool’s season back on track. The Dutch coach will hope his side can break the cycle against Galatasaray and stop repeating past mistakes.
Meanwhile, Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai has shared the squad’s concerns about potentially missing out on the Champions League next season. Here, Mirror Football takes a look at some of the headlines surrounding the Reds.
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Arne Slot 'damaging' claim
Slot was left cursing familiar problems as his team rued a missed opportunity against Spurs. While the Reds moved to within two points of Aston Villa in fourth, the Liverpool boss conceded that the team may fall short of their objectives if they are unable to fix some of their recurring issues.
"Of course it is damaging but how many times has this been damaging for us (this season)?" he said "We don’t help ourselves at all. It is so many times this season we have created much more xG or chances than the amount of goals we score.
"Usually in the Premier League you see a lot of teams outperforming their xG but that definitely is not what we are doing. Then the game stays tight until the end and we struggle to keep clean sheets.
"We haven’t had as many clean sheets as you would want if you want to go higher up in the table. That’s a bad combination for picking up the amount of points we want to pick up."
Crisis talks emerge
Liverpool star Szoboszlai has revealed that the squad has already held talks addressing the importance of finishing in the Champions League places. The midfielder also shared his concerns about the atmosphere at Anfield ahead of their vital game against Galatasaray.
"We had already a couple of weeks ago a talk between each other saying: ‘Guys we don’t have such a lot of time to do this right so we have to wake up and start to go in a way that we want to play Champions League next season’,” Szoboszlai explained.
"We have Galatasaray on Wednesday and that will be a tough game because we felt it there. I don’t think it helps us also that after 80 minutes people start to go home, it doesn’t help us at all. Stick with us.
"Everyone is noticing that and when we concede a goal still people are leaving the stadium – you don’t leave when we score. I understand the frustration but we need them, we need everybody, and that’s the most important."