Liverpool’s confirmed XI vs Galatasaray as Arne Slot makes surprise Cody Gakpo call

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Arne Slot has confirmed his Liverpool starting XI and bench for the Champions League meeting with Galatasaray.The Merseyside outfit go into the tie eyeing up a bit of revenge after they suffered a 1-0 loss against the Turkish side when the pair met in the group phase earlier this season.The winner of Liverpool and Galatasaray’s last-16 meetings, the second of which takes place at Anfield on March 18, will face one of PSG or Chelsea in the quarter-finals of the competition, and Slot has picked a strong squad to try and give his side an advantage heading into the return leg. Any changes to that XI then?

Big Gakpo call from Slot… Credit: Liverpool FC/Getty Images Rio Ngumoha and Cody Gakpo benched for Liverpool’s meeting with GalatasarayThis past weekend saw Rio Ngumoha given a rare senior start in the fifth round of the FA Cup against Wolverhampton Wanderers.Ngumoha was praised by Virgil van Dijk and others for his impressive showing down the left-hand side.The teenager came in for Cody Gakpo, who was pushed into a more central role with Hugo Ekitike in need of a rest.But with Ekitike back in the XI for this match, Slot had to decide if he would stick with the youngster, who created most of Liverpool’s best attacking play against Wolves, or revert to type and select old favourite Gakpo.However, what we instead got, likely to the surprise of many, was Gakpo benched and Florian Wirtz back into the XI.Join Our NewsletterReceive a digest of our best Liverpool content each week direct to your mailbox