Mario Lemina shows true colors with honest comments on Liverpool after Galatasaray defeat

Liverpool knocked Galatasaray out of the Champions League by demolishing the Turkish side 4-0, and there could have been many more goals on the night in the Anfield leg

Galatasaray midfielder Mario Lemina.(Image: Molly Darlington/Getty Images)

Galatasaray midfielder Mario Lemina admitted that his side couldn't compete with Liverpool in the Champions League, even after his goal gave the Turkish outfit a 1-0 lead heading into the second leg.

Dominik Szoboszlai, Hugo Ekitike, Ryan Gravenberch and Mohamed Salah all scored for Liverpool at Anfield, but the scoreline could have been much higher, with some big chances missed including a saved penalty in the first half.

The former Southampton star Lemina said after the final whistle that Liverpool was just too good on the day, progressing to book a place in the next round against PSG, the team that knocked it out last season.

"Liverpool did everything they could to advance," Lemina told Aspor. "We couldn't even come close to their level. We fought hard to get here.

"We know we lost against a good team, but we wanted more. I send my best wishes to Victor Osimhen and Noa Lang. We would have liked to go much further.

"We also built a good team. We played many matches. We competed against a team like Liverpool. On the one hand, we are proud; on the other hand, we are very sad."

Galatasaray had a night to forget as it was blown away by Liverpool(Image: Getty Images)

While Liverpool played well — arguably putting in its best performance of the season to date — its next challenge is to build on that, starting with the trip to Brighton on Saturday.

"From start to finish, I think we played the game I was hoping for, the players were hoping for and the fans were hoping for," Arne Slot said on Wednesday.

"Not only we played from start to finish the perfect game, but our fans as well. From the start, they were not accepting what we thought would happen and what happened — that they tried to create a situation where the energy would run out of the stadium by making sure there was not much playing time.

"Our fans reacted great to that and our players kept on going, so a great dynamic between fans and players and almost the perfect game from us — and definitely from our fans."

"We would like us to perform every single time at this level. Unfortunately, for the fifth, sixth time now, I think that we only get two days' rest to go to Brighton, early kick-off.

"For me, that's not realistic. You see more and more players get injured in this period of time because it's such a tight schedule. We should have [been] given a bit more rest but that hasn't happened a lot to us this season."

Liverpool.com says: The Reds played well, but was it a one-off? That's the question that will need to be answered at the weekend when Arne Slot could do with another big performance.