Arne Slot rued Liverpool’s “bad deja vu” as they suffered their second 1-0 defeat away at Galatasaray in the Champions League.
The Turkish side grabbed the advantage in their last-16 tie thanks to Mario Lemina’s early header in what was the second time they have struggled at Rams Park this season.
Liverpool created plenty of chances after Lemina’s goal in just the seventh minute but were unable to make their opportunities pay and will now need to turn the tie around at Anfield next week.
“It’s bad deja vu, you could say,” Slot told TNT Sports. “The score is the same as the match three months ago.
“But we played a game where we could have scored much more. We created many chances; we missed many. We were really good in the first 15 minutes. But we couldn’t find the goal.
“This is a very difficult stadium. Both for opposing players and opposing coaches.
“It’s hard to concentrate and it’s hard to communicate. Galatasaray are very lucky to have such an atmosphere.
“Now we have a match against Galatasaray at our home stadium. We have fantastic fans who always give us strength.
“They will show this at Anfield, our home ground, and will be a driving force for us.”
Slot slams disallowed Konate goal
The Reds boss was highly critical of the match officials after seeing Ibrahima Konate denied a goal by VAR, which judged the defender to have handled the ball.
“It’s always very difficult to talk to referees in a situation like that as they’re in communication with VAR so have to listen to what is being said,” Slot added.
“If, if, if it’s correct that the goal was disallowed, which is difficult to judge as I’ve heard different opinions from people, it’s not completely obvious but let’s say that decision is right.
“Then I was even more frustrated about the fact that every free-kick and corner we took if we only look at Galatasaray players the referee already gave a free-kick for Galatasaray.
“If you then look at how much they pulled on Virgil’s (van Dijk) shirt before the ball hit Ibou’s arm, then it’s safe to say we weren’t the only ones impressed by the atmosphere here today.”
