Arne Slot explains Galatasaray frustrations with honest 'protection' claim

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Liverpool manager Arne Slot criticised Galatasaray's time-wasting tactics after the Reds secured a dominant 4-0 Champions League victory at Anfield to reach the quarter-finals.

Arne Slot gestures on the touchline(Image: Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Liverpool manager Arne Slot has revealed why he was so incensed during the opening period of the Reds' emphatic 4-0 victory at home to Galatasaray.

Slot, 47, was unusually demonstrative on the touchline, making his displeasure known to stand-in fourth official Szymon Marciniak regarding a series of decisions.

Marciniak had been scheduled to take charge of the Champions League encounter until he sustained an injury and was substituted by Pawel Raczkowski. Poland's Raczkowski was jeered on several occasions after Galatasaray players remained down and prompted him to halt play. Liverpool managed to prevail but there was still some frustration for the boss.

Slot was becoming visibly exasperated and his frustration reached new heights - quite literally - when Liverpool were refused a penalty in the first half, as Hugo Ekitike went down inside the area.

The Dutchman was spotted leaping up and down and yelled at Marciniak.

After the match, Slot elaborated on why he felt so driven to voice his frustrations. "We see it incredibly often that opponents come here to Anfield just to lie on the ground," the Reds boss stated.

"I also watched the match against Juventus back, and in the first half, the Galatasaray players were on the ground 14 times. That means the game is stopped every three minutes, so there is never any rhythm.

"I felt it was important, not because I was stressed, to show that we couldn't let this happen. I just wanted to create something. To let everyone know that we need to protect football.

Reds boss Arne Slot(Image: Alex Pantling - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)

"It's not nice that football is heading in this direction. So I tried to make that clear in words and gestures, that this is very upsetting for football. That is also why I am glad that we didn't let ourselves get carried away."

Thankfully for Liverpool, Galatasaray's behaviour didn't prevent them from progressing to the quarter-finals, where they'll meet Paris Saint-Germain, who eliminated them from the Champions League last season. "This was everything you could want to see," Slot added.

"From the first to the last minute, my players gave everything. We created a number of chances that my team has never created in a single match before. It doesn't happen often that a team scores four times but is still below the xG (expected goals)."