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<\/p>\nThere were five bookings handed out, including four to Liverpool, in Tuesday’s Champions League round of 16 first leg at Galatasaray<\/p>\n
Referee Jesus Gil Manzano gestures towards Virgil van Dijk of Liverpool and Abdulkerim Bardakci and Noa Lang of Galatasaray during the Champions League match at Ali Sami Yen Spor Kompleksi on March 10, 2026 in Istanbul, Turkey(Image: Burak Kara – UEFA\/UEFA via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Liverpool have given themselves work to do to keep their Champions League<\/a> hopes alive after losing their round of 16 first-leg tie 1-0 at Galatasaray on Tuesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mario Lemina’s seventh-minute header proved the difference between the sides in Istanbul going into next Wednesday’s (March 18) second leg at Anfield<\/a> (8pm kick-off).<\/p>\n It proved a good night for Galatasaray, who celebrated beating the defending Premier League<\/a> champions for the second time this season after they also ran out 1-0 winners at the same venue in the league phase back in September.<\/p>\n The Super Lig title holders will be encouraged by the fact that Liverpool<\/a> have not won a knockout tie in front of their own supporters since April 2022.<\/p>\n FOLLOW OUR LIVERPOOL FC FACEBOOK PAGE! All the latest news and analysis from Anfield on the Liverpool Echo’s dedicated LFC Facebook page<\/a><\/p>\n However, Galatasaray will make the trip to Merseyside without any travelling supporters after they were banned by UEFA, who found fans of the Turkish giants had thrown objects and lit fireworks during the knockout phase play-off tie against Juventus in Turin on February 25.<\/p>\n And on the pitch Okan Buruk’s side will also have to do without one of their key players, former Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Davinson Sanchez, after he was booked in injury-time for a foul on Hugo Ekitike<\/a> in Tuesday’s first leg.<\/p>\n It was Sanchez’s third caution of this season’s competition and, with Champions League rules dictating any player who receives three yellow cards – or any subsequent odd number of bookings – from the league stage onwards is banned for the next game, he will sit out the second leg.<\/p>\n The Reds will have no players ruled out through suspension. However, bookings for captain Virgil van Dijk<\/a> and fellow Dutchman Ryan Gravenberch<\/a> on Tuesday mean they join Curtis Jones<\/a> on walking a disciplinary tightrope.<\/p>\n All three players now have two cautions to their name in the Champions League and should they receive another in the second leg against Galatasaray, they would miss the first leg of a quarter-final showdown with either Chelsea or holders Paris Saint-Germain.<\/p>\n An amnesty only arrives on completion of the quarter-finals when all yellow card totals expire.<\/p>\n Galatasaray have six currently fit and available players with two bookings to their names. Goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir, defenders Ismail Jackobs and Abdulkerim Bardakci and forwards Roland Sallai and Victor Osimhen have all been cautioned twice in the competition this season, while January loan signing Noa Lang was booked twice for parent club Napoli.<\/p>\n Liverpool boss Arne Slot<\/a> was adamant his side were denied a penalty when a potential equaliser was chalked off on Tuesday.<\/p>\n The Reds thought they had equalised on 71 minutes when the ball was bundled in from a Dominik Szoboszlai<\/a> corner only for a handball by Ibrahima Konate<\/a> to be spotted after a lengthy VAR check.<\/p>\n Slot, though, believes a penalty should have been awarded for a foul on Virgil van Dijk<\/a> and suggested referee Jesus Gil Manzano was affected by the loud atmosphere.<\/p>\n