Konate, who were already leading 1-0 thanks to Mario Lemina’s goal in the 7th minute, miskicked the ball in the 62nd minute when they tried to pass the ball back to goalkeeper Giorgi Mamadashvili on the edge of their own box. Noah Lang took advantage of the blunder, ran through the last line of defence, and lofted the ball towards Osimhen at the far post.
Konate managed to get back in front of the Galatasaray forwards, but failed to clear the goal line before Osimhen fired home from close range, seemingly increasing the hosts’ lead to 2-0. However, Konate was spared further embarrassment when the goal was canceled shortly afterwards.
Even though Barys Alper Yilmaz was offside when the first ball was played to Konate, the winger did not contribute to the goal and many viewers were puzzled as to why the goal was ruled out for chalk.
Meanwhile, TNT Sports co-commentator Steve Sidwell suggested that Yilmaz thwarted Konate’s attempts to regain possession and that was why the goal was overturned.
Shortly after, Liverpool found themselves in a position to receive a controversial ruling after equalizing from a scrambled corner. Dominik Szoboszlai powered the ball into the six-yard area and Konate appeared to make up for his earlier mistake by shouldering the ball into the net.
However, VAR determined the ball hit Konate’s arm and deflected off Virgil van Dijk before crossing the goal line. It was then decided that the handball goal would not be allowed.
Liverpool were unable to equalize and will go into next week’s return match at Anfield with a one-goal lead to turn things around if they have any hope of progressing.
Galatasaray’s home advantage will be further strengthened by the fact that Galatasaray supporters will not be allowed to attend the match after spectators “thrown objects, set off fireworks and caused disturbance in the crowd” during last month’s 3-2 defeat against Juventus.
The Champions League and FA Cup are Liverpool’s last chance to save themselves from their domestic slump. With nine games left in the Premier League, the Reds are in sixth place, 19 points behind league leaders Arsenal.
