Jamie Carragher changes tune on Liverpool vs Galatasaray prediction

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Jamie Carragher has been confidently backing Liverpool to reach the Champions League quarter-finals, but his confidence is starting to drain ahead of the second leg against Galatasaray

Jamie Carragher has admitted he's less confident about Liverpool's Champions League chances(Image: Sky Sports)

Jamie Carragher has admitted he’s feeling a lot less confident about Liverpool’s chances of beating Galatasaray in the Champions League after the Reds’ latest slip-up.

Arne Slot’s side will host the Turkish champions in the second leg of their last-16 tie on Wednesday, when they will need to overturn a 1-0 deficit if they are to keep their hopes of claiming a seventh European crown alive.

Carragher has been talking up Liverpool’s chances of reaching the quarter-finals for some time now, having confidently predicted the Reds would beat Galatasaray even before the draw for the knockout stages had been made.

“I’d rather Galatasaray than Atletico Madrid,” Carragher said on CBS Sports after the play-off stages. “I’m 99 percent certain that we’d beat Galatasaray.”

Even after Liverpool’s defeat in Istanbul last week, Carragher wasn’t backing down from his prediction as he backed his former side to make it through to the quarter-finals.

Having watched the Reds throw away more points in the Premier League against Tottenham on Sunday though, and heard the boos that greeted Slot and his team at full-time, the former defender is not feeling as confident.

“Once you lose that crowd, it’s very difficult,” Carragher said on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football.

Liverpool needs to overturn a 1-0 deficit against Galatasaray in the Champions League(Image: Burak Basturk/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

“Now, something really special could happen in terms of a Champions League, maybe you win the FA Cup and you qualify for the Champions League, but I think a lot of supporters have gone on the back of what happened in this last week especially.

“One point from Wolves and Tottenham, and losing the first leg against Galatasaray in the Champions League, and I’m not that confident, certainly as I was a few weeks ago, about going through against Galatasaray.”

Ahead of Wednesday’s return leg, Slot knows he needs a much-improved performance from his side in order to appease the disgruntled Anfield crowd, with supporters’ patience clearly beginning to wear thin.

"I think it's understandable for fans to be frustrated because it has happened so many times that they have seen the home team not picking up the points they are expecting, us conceding goals in the last minute," Slot said after Sunday's game.

"Now it is up to us to bring that frustration to Wednesday and come up with a big performance because we are all frustrated. That is completely clear.

"It is now up to me and the players to take that frustration to Wednesday evening and show the fans the performance and the result they deserve because they have been supportive throughout the whole season to us.”