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Galatasaray fans caused a ruckus in the early hours of Tuesday morning (local time), setting off fireworks outside Liverpool's team hotel.
An intimidating atmosphere is expected when the Turkish club hosts Arne Slot's squad at RAMS Park on Tuesday, with both teams eager to ascend the Champions League table. Eintracht Frankfurt made a thunderous start to the new campaign, storming past Galatasaray with a 5-1 victory after initially trailing.
Yunus Akgun put Galatasaray in the lead within the first 10 minutes, only for an own goal from Davinson Sanchez to equalize the scoreline half an hour later. The floodgates then burst open at Deutsche Bank Park, with the German club netting twice in the closing minutes of the first half.
Frankfurt added two more goals post-interval to secure all three points. This victory propelled the Bundesliga team to the top spot in the league phase, while Okan Buruk's side plummeted to second from bottom.
In a desperate bid to clinch their first win of the new Champions League season, Galatasaray fans have resorted to extreme measures to unsettle Liverpool's preparations.
During the early hours of Tuesday morning, supporters ignited fireworks outside the hotel where the Reds were reportedly staying. A video of the incident, shared by @ScoriaHools on X, has since gone viral, featuring masked supporters chanting and setting off fireworks
Speaking to journalists before the eagerly awaited encounter, Slot insisted Galatasaray were unfortunate to suffer defeat against Frankfurt a fortnight ago. The Liverpool manager said: "Their loss against Frankfurt, I have watched that game and for me they were very, very, very unlucky in that game.
"The chances they gave away were only small and it was either the quality of Frankfurt or little bit of bad luck for Galatasaray that they conceded five because if they play the same game again, they will never, ever, ever concede five goals again in that same game because they played much better than the 5-1 showed.
"That's also what you see now at the beginning of the season here in Turkey, seven wins and only conceded two if I am correct, scored a lot of goals, so a very, very good team and a very good manager who has been so successful over here as a player."
Slot continued: "So they know what it takes to win the league and know what it takes to win a game of football, so we have to be prepared for that."
Regarding Galatasaray's danger from dead-ball situations, Slot remarked: "I think you've already given the answer: we've shown we are a team that can defend set-pieces really well. More and more in football you see it becomes more and more a set-piece game.
"I know set-pieces are a part of football, but I watched Brentford [versus] Man United on the way up to Palace. I saw 25 minutes of that game and I think it was 20 minutes of long throw-ins, set-pieces, long throw-ins, set-pieces, corner kick, goal-kick... a goal-kick is not a set-piece, by the way!
"This is the style of football you see more and more mainly in the Premier League, in my opinion. There is a reason for me why it is done even more in the Premier League than in other leagues [and that's] because in the Premier League you can do much more.
"You can attack a goalkeeper, for example, you can even touch him and it is not even a foul. This is something everybody likes about the Premier League, but in Europe this is definitely a bit different.
"We knew Galatasaray were also strong on set-pieces, but I can tell you we were a force on set-pieces last season and we won our last Champions League game because of a set-piece [when] we scored the 3-2 with Virgil [van Dijk]. We were very, very, very close to scoring one against Palace.
"Every team you face at the moment, you have to be so, so, so well prepared when it comes to set-pieces. Back in the days when I was still playing, we only talked about football and there was not even a set-piece, let alone a set-piece meeting.
"Nowadays, set-piece meetings take just as long as the tactical meeting or the preparation for the game football-wise. That tells you the importance we give to set-pieces and I think every team around Europe gives to set-pieces."
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