Liverpool came, they saw, and they stunk, losing 1-0 in Istanbul to a Galatasaray side that suddenly looks like as big of a sleeper team in the 2025/26 Champions League season as Bodo Glimt. Here are three Liverpool players who cost their team the most in the defeat.
RW Mohamed Salah
It starts with Mohamed Salah, who produced such a disastrous outing that you would have been forgiving for failing to realize that he was subbed out at around the hour mark in a totally anonymous display.
Salah’s performance vs. Galatasaray is the latest embarrassment in a 2025/26 season to forget, and Salah genuinely looks past it, especially in these big games. He contributed more offsides than genuine progressive or creator play for Liverpool.
LB Milos Kerkez
Speaking of progressive play, Milos Kerkez offered none of it for Liverpool, and this was another step backwards for the young left back. He was way, way too involved on both ends of the pitch in a game of this magnitude, and Liverpool fans need to be more enraged with little they have gotten in terms of ROI from their fullback signings.
RB Joe Gomez
The Joe Gomez experience at right back does not work, and it will clearly never work at the highest level of the Champions League. Liverpool underestimated Galatasaray by playing this guy at right back, and he was even worse than expected. His defensive work was below average, his progressive play was obviously non existent in assisting Salah on the right flank, and he was even atrociously sloppy on the ball with a pass completion percentage barely above 70.
Joe Soriano is the editor of The Trivela Effect and a FanSided Hall of Famer who has covered world football since 2010. He’s led top digital communities like The Real Champs (Real Madrid) and has run sites covering Tottenham, Liverpool, Juventus, and Schalke. He also helped manage NFL Spin Zone and Daily DDT, covering the NFL and pro wrestling.