Arne Slot hits out at Liverpool penalty decision and makes Clement Turpin referee dig

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Liverpool Echo IconSportFootballLiverpool FCLiverpool boss Arne Slot has spoken after the Champions League defeat at Galatasaray on Tuesday eveningArne Slot has questioned the penalty decision that sent Liverpool tumbling to Champions League defeat at Galatasaray. The Reds were beaten by a 16th-minute spot-kick from Victor Osimhen after referee Clement Turpin adjudged Dominik Szoboszlai had fouled Baris Alper Yilmaz.Replays indicated the contact with the hand was slight but the decision was upheld by VAR, who later implored Turpin overturn a penalty initially awarded when Ibrahima Konate went down having been challenged.And Slot believes Liverpool were undone by a canny piece of play by Turkey international Yilmaz at a noisy RAMS Park.READ MORE: Alisson Becker injury blow confirmed as Arne Slot also gives Hugo Ekitike Liverpool update"I haven’t seen it back but there was no contact with the feet," said the Reds boss."The last few weeks I am talking quite a lot about how we are a very fair team and maybe their player was really smart, he felt something and made it feel as if it is an unbelievable hit."The referee thought he could not overturn it, though he did in the last minute when we got one."The game was a second successive loss for Liverpool after a dismal showing in the 2-1 Premier League reverse at Crystal Palace last Saturday.And Slot added: "For me it was a different loss to the one we had against Palace because there was a lot more to like, especially in the first half."In the second half it became harder and harder for us to create because first of all they were fighting with all they had and you have to give credit to them, and secondly the ball was hardly in play in the second half."Slot made four changes to his starting line-up, including dropping Mohamed Salah and Alexis Mac Allister to the bench while introducing Jeremie Frimpong on the right flank.But the Liverpool boss dismissed suggestions rotation was a contributory factor to another underwhelming display."There can be so many reasons why an individual makes an error pass or a mistake," said Slot."What you see is that there are a few players that miss pre-season so you cannot play them every single game - well, you can but that becomes a risk of players getting injured."We see this more and more because the demands go up more and more, so that means it is not always that I want to rotate but sometimes I just need to because players are not ready to play three times 90 minutes in seven or eight days."Slot added: "As much as I like my squad, we don’t have 25 or 26 so if we end up with two, three or four injuries and have 15 or 16 players where Rio (Ngumoha) and Trey (Nyoni) are among these, then 15 or 16 need to play all the minutes so things become complicated."This is a decision we have made together, and I completely believe in this because if you have 25 players it is very hard to manage your squad."But as a result of that, with Hugo (Ekitike), Alex (Isak), Conor (Bradley) and Alexis (Mac Allister) not having the pre-season a player should have, that also results in that I cannot play them all the time."