Liverpool vs Galatasaray Predictions

• Galatasaray won the first leg 1-0
• Gala have gone three games without conceding
• Liverpool have scored five goals across their last four games

Comeback required for stuttering Liverpool

Liverpool trail Galatasaray 1-0 ahead of the second leg of their Champions League last 16 tie and the pressure is on the Anfield outfit after an underwhelming domestic display at the weekend.

The Reds’ hopes of qualifying for Europe’s top competition next season were dealt a blow as they were held to a 1-1 draw by relegation-threatened Tottenham at home, but they are clear favourites to overcome Gala despite their indifferent form.

Liverpool obviously have enough quality to get the job done but they offer little appeal at such a short price when taking their form into account.

Gala will try and frustrate

Galatasaray nearly blew a 5-2 first leg lead in the play-off round against Juventus, losing 3-0 in Turin before coming through in extra time against a side who were reduced to 10 men early in the second half. They will be keen to avoid a repeat at Anfield and the visitors will look to defend in numbers on Merseyside, with defending their lead the focus rather than adding to it.

Liverpool have struggled in attack in recent games and they’ve only scored five goals across their last four games – and four of those have come against a Wolves outfit who are propping up the Premier League table.

As such, best bet here could be under 3.5 goals – which looks overpriced at around evens.

Gala have kept three consecutive clean sheets and Liverpool struggled to create chances against Spurs at the weekend. Tottenham had shipped 14 goals in just four games before their meeting at Anfield, and Spurs managed to restrict Liverpool to just one goal despite the fact they were chasing the game after conceding early on.

Galatasaray will try and keep this game tight and frustrate Liverpool and their tactics probably won’t change too much even if they do fall one goal behind, so we could be in for a relatively low scoring affair on Wednesday.

Liverpool can scrape through

Galatasaray are a massive 9’/1 to win or 11/4 to at least avoid defeat in the double chance market, but ultimately getting the result they need at Anfield may be too big of an ask and a 2-0 home win is the correct score pick.

The Reds won three of their four league phase home games earlier in the competition and kept two clean sheets, while Galatasaray have lost without scoring inside normal time in their last three European road games.

Dominik Szoboszlai is one of the few Liverpool players who is performing well on a consistent basis and he appeals as a bit of an outside candidate for a goal. The Hungarian scored against Spurs at the weekend and has three goals and an assist across his last eight games, while he has a decent scoring rate in Europe with four goals in nine Champions League games this season.