Liverpool overturned a Champions League draw with a 4-0 win over Galatasaray and booked a place in the quarter-finals, but lost 1-0 to Istanbul last Tuesday.
Dominik Szoboszlai was particularly keen to beat Galatasaray (Image: Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
Dominik Szoboszlai says Galatasaray’s celebrations after their first-leg win against Liverpool gave the Reds extra motivation to beat the Turkish giants. Liverpool ran out 4-0 winners on Wednesday to qualify for the Champions League in the quarter-finals.
Arne Slott’s side suffered a futile 1-0 loss against Istanbul last week, but the second leg at Anfield was a different story. Goals from Szoboszlai, Hugo Ekitike, Ryan Grabenbirch and Mo Salah gave Liverpool a comprehensive victory and they will now face Paris Saint-Germain in the last eight.
After the match, Szoboszlai revealed that he took Galatasaray’s congratulations “personally”. “The last game, I was giving an interview and I heard them celebrating,” the midfielder told TNT Sports.
“I spoke to some players in Turkey and it’s normal to celebrate after the match, whether there’s a second leg after that or not. So they took it a little bit personally and I think some of us did too.”
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read more: Champions League quarter-finals, Liverpool and Arsenal tied for drawread more: The match between Liverpool and Galatasaray was called off after the star player was stretchered off with a serious hand injury.
“I still think in my heart that you can’t celebrate too much too soon. Maybe they didn’t mean to, but it gave us a little bit of a boost and I think everything was in place from the first moment.”
It was a dominant performance from Liverpool and Ekitike believes it could have been “10-0”. “I’m really happy because we deserve to be here,” said the Frenchman.
“We did a really good job tonight. We could have won 10-0, so I’m looking forward to the quarterfinals. We made some changes at halftime and felt more free when we took our chances. Everyone did a great job and ran for each other.”
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Liverpool won comfortably with four goals (Image: Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Liverpool will seek revenge against PSG, who lost on penalties in last year’s round of 16. The Reds will play away in the first leg on either Tuesday 7th April or Wednesday 8th April, before returning to action the following week.
Liverpool’s next match will be a visit to Brighton in the Premier League. Slott’s side have dropped points in their last two games in the top flight and are now fifth in the table, three points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa.
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