Fenerbahçe beat Liverpool 3-2: Muriqi's late header ends Liverpool's perfect European start

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Fenerbahçe beat Liverpool 3-2 in Istanbul on Wednesday 4 November, in the fourth round of the Champions League’s league phase. Liverpool led twice, through Trey Nyoni after 25 minutes and Alexander Isak after 69, and lost. Mason Greenwood, Archie Brown and Vedat Muriqi scored for the home side, Muriqi’s header after 79 minutes deciding it. It is Liverpool’s first defeat in Europe this season after three wins, and Fenerbahçe’s first win in the competition this season.

How it happened

Liverpool’s head coach Andoni Iraola made five changes to his team, and Isak, Florian Wirtz and Cody Gakpo all started on the bench. According to Liverpool’s official report, his side had the early chances, with a shot from Daniel Muñoz punched clear by the Fenerbahçe goalkeeper Ederson.

The first goal came after 25 minutes. A deep ball from Dominik Szoboszlai was aimed at Virgil van Dijk, the defence knocked it down into the area and left it loose, and Nyoni, the 19-year-old midfielder, ran onto it and hit a deflected shot into the net. The club’s report calls it his first senior goal. Four minutes later it was level. Greenwood’s free kick from about 20 yards deflected off Jeremy Jacquet and wrong-footed Alisson, as both Liverpool’s report and ESPN’s account describe it. İrfan Can Kahveci hit the bar for Fenerbahçe before the break, and it was 1-1 at half-time.

Iraola sent on Isak, Gakpo and Wirtz together after 66 minutes, and the change worked at once. Gakpo broke down the left and crossed, and Isak, with his first touch, headed in from inside the six-yard box after 69 minutes for 1-2. ESPN’s match page records it as his first Champions League goal for Liverpool.

The lead lasted four minutes. After a short corner, N’Golo Kanté crossed, the ball was flicked backwards in the box, and Brown, the Fenerbahçe left-back, ran in unmarked at the back post to score for 2-2 after 73 minutes. Then, with a little over ten minutes left, a long ball into the area after a short throw-in was met by the head of Muriqi, who had come on for Romelu Lukaku after 63 minutes, and the ball went into the bottom corner. 3-2, after 79 minutes. Liverpool’s report says the visitors had only half-chances for Gakpo and Isak after that. Neither source records a card, a penalty or a VAR decision.

What it changes

Liverpool drop from fourth to eighth in the 36-team table, still on nine points from four games: three wins and one defeat. The top eight go straight to the last 16 in the spring; places nine to 24 go into a play-off round in February. Nine clubs, from Como in fourth to Dortmund in twelfth, have nine points, so goal difference decides the order among them. Fenerbahçe climb to 19th with five points, from one win, two draws and one defeat.

Both clubs are back in their leagues at the weekend. Liverpool, fifth in the Premier League with 15 points from nine games, go to Crystal Palace on Sunday 8 November at 15:00 CET.

What the market said

A betting price is a crowd’s opinion written as a number, and dividing 1 by the price gives a rough chance. The last price BettingBeast’s feed captured before kick-off, at 18:22 CET, made Liverpool the clear favourite at 1.59, about a 63% chance. Fenerbahçe were 6.57, about a 15% chance, and the draw 4.83, about 21%. Fenerbahçe, the outsider, won. The goals line was 3.5, with over at 2.22 and under at 1.83, and the game had five goals.

What Iraola said

“Cheap goals. Messy goals,” Iraola said in his press conference after the game, as ESPN reports it. “We have to look more at how we conceded the goals as the reason we didn’t win.”

19+ (18+ in Quebec, Alberta and Manitoba). Gambling involves risk and can be addictive. Please gamble responsibly. Prices quoted were correct at the time stated and move. This article is information and opinion, not advice; no outcome is certain. Odds links go to BettingBeast. Help: Responsible Gambling Council.