Arne Slot reaches Liverpool landmark but Reds seek Istanbul improvement in Champions League

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All the latest news and analysis from Anfield on the Liverpool Echo's dedicated LFC Facebook pageFor Slot, victory would be a 63rd in his first 100 games in charge and break the club record currently held by Kenny Dalglish."It makes me really proud that I became Liverpool manager and that it's going to be my 100th game," said the Reds boss. "I don't think I have a bad track record although sometimes you get a different feeling about that if I have to listen to everything!"It's nice the 100th game is such a nice game to play Champions League, last 16, away to Galatasaray."But as ever it's never abut the manager, it's about the players.

I try to prepare them as well as the 99 games before, but it's the players who have to perform."I've been lucky I've been given a very good team last season and this season and I have all the trust that these players will perform at the levels they are used to of a Liverpool team."Istanbul may be the scene of their famous final triumph in 2005, but when it comes to facing Galatasaray in Turkey the Reds have a less than stellar record.As well as that defeat in September, they also failed to win on both of their previous trips to face Tuesday's opponents, drawing 1-1 in 2002 and losing 3-2 in a dead rubber four years later in which current Galarasaray boss Okan Buruk scored.In addition, Liverpool have fallen the last two times at this hurdle in the Champions League. In 2022/23 they were humbled at home by Real Madrid while last year Paris Saint-Germain triumphed on penalties at Anfield after an epic tussle over two legs.The Reds could face a rematch with the European champions in the quarter-final with the winners of their tie facing either the French side or Chelsea, who clash in the last 16.Given the manner in which the loss to PSG has, to the chagrin of some Liverpool fans, influenced Slot’s subsequent words and actions, another showdown would outline which lessons have been learned and those that remain.The concentration for the Reds boss now, though, will be on his team giving themselves a foundation on which to build in next Wednesday’s Anfield return.It won’t be easy.

Galatasaray effectively got the job done in the first home leg against Juventus in the play-off round with a 5-2 win, although they needed extra time in Italy after falling three goals behind on 90 minutes before winning 3-2.Juventus had a player sent off in both legs with Galatasaray guilty of poor game management in the return before tired legs and minds cost the Italians.Liverpool’s questionable control of games this season, which was brought under sharp focus again last week with the dismal Premier League defeat at rock-bottom Wolves, faces a different test with this only the third two-legged tie of Slot’s Anfield tenure. In the previous two - the first against Tottenham Hotspur in the League Cup semi-final last year - Liverpool have lost one game and won the other.It could also be a big evening for Mohamed Salah.