In Matchday 2 of the UEFA Champions League, Galatasaray secured a 1-0 victory over Liverpool, with Victor Osimhen scoring the winning penalty. Liverpool manager Arne Slot made two surprising selections in his starting lineup for the game: Dominik Szoboszlai was deployed at right-back, while Alex Firpo was chosen to play at right winger. This defeat saw Liverpool drop out of the top eight, and given their upcoming matches against Real Madrid and Inter Milan, qualifying directly for the knockout stage could prove extremely difficult.
“I think they played absolutely terrible,” Rooney said in an interview with Camel Live. “They lost the game, and even when there was still plenty of time left, Slot just threw all the attackers on and said, ‘Right, you lot figure it out yourselves.’ Liverpool could have lost by an even bigger margin—they gave the ball away far too many times at the back, got hit on the counterattack after losing possession, and on top of that, Alisson got injured.”
“I think when Slot led Liverpool to the league title, some of his questionable decisions might have been overlooked. In this game, he played a midfielder at right-back and a right-back at right winger... If this had been a decision made by Rúben Amorim, he would definitely have been torn apart by the media and fans.”
