Champions League: Liverpool's unbeaten run ends with defeat versus Fenerbahce
What's the story
Liverpool's unbeaten run in the UEFA Champions League came to an end on Wednesday night as they suffered a 3-2 defeat against Fenerbahce in Istanbul. Despite taking two separate leads through goals from Trey Nyoni and Alexander Isak, poor defending allowed the Turkish side to mount a late comeback. The loss marks Liverpool's first defeat of their European campaign, halfway through their eight league phase games.
Match highlights
Nyoni and Greenwood trade goals
In a surprising move, Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola made five changes to the squad that lost to Arsenal three days earlier.
Among the starters was 19-year-old Trey Nyoni, who scored his first professional goal with a deflected volley that beat Ederson.
However, Fenerbahce equalized quickly through Mason Greenwood's free-kick, which took a big deflection off Jeremy Jacquet and left Alisson stranded in goal.
Substitution success
Defensive errors cost Liverpool dear in the 2nd half
Iraola brought on Isak, Florian Wirtz, and Cody Gakpo to regain the lead.
The move paid off almost immediately as Gakpo's cross found Isak inside the six-yard box.
The Swedish striker made no mistake with his first touch after coming on, restoring Liverpool's lead in the 69th minute.
However, a defensive mix-up between Gakpo and Alisson allowed Fenerbahce's Archie Brown to equalize once again just four minutes later.
Final blow
Vedat Muriqi heads home to seal victory for Fenerbahce
The game took a turn for the worse for Liverpool when Vedat Muriqi headed home from a high cross, giving Fenerbahce the lead.
This was just minutes after Brown's equalizer and sealed Liverpool's fate in Istanbul.
The defeat not only ended their perfect start to the Champions League campaign but also handed Dirk Kuyt-managed Fenerbahce their first win of the season in this prestigious tournament.
Post-match analysis
Iraola slams his side's defending
After the match, Iraola lamented the "cheap" and "messy" goals his team conceded.
He said, "We conceded from a free-kick, a corner, a long throw, and that has hurt us."
The Liverpool boss also highlighted communication issues between players during the game.
Despite these setbacks, he was optimistic about their performance in offensive situations before conceding almost immediately after scoring.
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Contrasting records for the Reds
As per Opta, Nyoni is the youngest player in Liverpool's history to score his first goal for the club in a European Cup match (19 years, 127 days). Meanwhile, it was the latest Liverpool took the lead (69th minute - Alexander Isak to make it 2-1) in a major European match and then lost.
Information
Here are the match stats
From 17 shots, Fenerbahce managed six shots on target. Liverpool had six shots on target from 22 attempts. In terms of touches in the opposition box, Liverpool (35) edged past the hosts (17). Liverpool completed 475 passes and had 67.6% ball possession.