Vedat Muriqi's late header gave Dirk Kuyt victory over his old club, ending Liverpool's perfect start to the league phase and leaving them with back-to-back defeats.
By FreakBets Newsroom
Fenerbahce came from behind twice to beat Liverpool 3-2 in Istanbul on Wednesday 4 November, ending the English club's perfect start to the Champions League and handing the Turkish side their first win in the competition for more than 18 years.
Vedat Muriqi headed the winner in the 79th minute at Sukru Saracoglu, where Dirk Kuyt, in only his second match as Fenerbahce's interim head coach, got the better of the club he played more than 200 matches for between 2006 and 2012.
Liverpool had arrived with three wins from three. They leave with their first loss of the European campaign, halfway through the eight-game league phase, and with back-to-back defeats for the first time since Andoni Iraola became manager, according to Sky Sports.
Liverpool led in the 25th minute when Trey Nyoni struck a low volley that deflected off Kojo Peprah Oppong. It was Nyoni's first professional goal, and Sky Sports reported that it made him Liverpool's second-youngest Champions League goalscorer.
The lead lasted four minutes. Mason Greenwood's free kick struck Jeremy Jacquet in the wall and beat Alisson, and the match was level.
Alexander Isak put Liverpool back in front in the 69th minute, heading in from close range after Cody Gakpo's cross. Again Fenerbahce answered within four minutes, Archie Brown equalising.
Then came the decisive moment. Following a long throw, Brown looped the ball into the box and Muriqi headed past Alisson to make it 3-2.
Iraola, who had made five changes from the side beaten by Arsenal three days earlier, did not hide his frustration at the manner of the goals.
"Cheap goals. Messy goals. The free-kick is quite far out, through the wall. The last goal was a long throw, the second one Cody (Gakpo) touched the ball just in front of Ali (goalkeeper Alisson)," he told Sky Sports.
"We conceded from a free-kick, a corner, a long throw and that has hurt us," he added. "It is frustrating because it is a difficult place to play and for the most part of the game we were thinking we could win this one."
The pattern is what will trouble Liverpool most. Each of their leads survived only four minutes, and by their manager's own account all three Fenerbahce goals came from set pieces, the kind a side with nine points from four games would expect to defend.
For Kuyt, the night carried a very different emotion. "I'm very happy with all the players and all the people who were involved in making a miracle tonight because I think not many people expected us to win [playing] Liverpool," he said, according to Al Jazeera.
He described it as "a very special night for everyone who loves Fenerbahce".
Fenerbahce's previous Champions League victory came on Wednesday 2 April 2008, when they beat Chelsea in the quarter-finals, according to Daily Sabah. The win over Liverpool was their first in this season's competition and lifts them to five points from four matches, 19th in the league phase.
Liverpool drop to eighth on nine points. That still leaves them well placed at the halfway stage, but without the cushion a perfect record had given them, and with a defence that has now leaked goals in consecutive matches.
There is little time to dwell on it. Liverpool are scheduled to face Crystal Palace on Sunday 8 November, with kick-off listed at 2:00pm, according to Sky Sports. Palace go into that game off the back of a Europa League tie against Hoffenheim on Thursday 5 November.
Written by the FreakBets newsroom with AI, using only the sources above, and checked against them automatically before publication. See our editorial policy.