Turkish media slam 'scandalous' Steven Gerrard over Galatasaray comments

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Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard pulled no punches in his verdict on Galatasaray after the defeat to the Reds but a Turkish media outlet has hit back

Former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard

Steven Gerrard has been slammed for comments he made about Galatasaray following Liverpool's comfortable Champions League success at Anfield.

The Reds progressed to the last eight of the competition after overturning a first-leg deficit, winning 4-0 over the Turkish giants. Dominik Szoboszlai opened the scoring before three goals in just over 10 minutes from Hugo Ekitike, Ryan Gravenberch and Mohamed Salah.

Paris Saint-Germain lies in wait for Arne Slot's men in the quarter-finals while Galatasaray was forced to lick its wounds. There were a number of major injury concerns for the Turkish side, with Victor Osimhen fracturing his arm while Noa Lang also required surgery on his finger.

But Gerrard was not impressed with the theatrics of the visitors as he vented his frustrations on TNT Sports, dubbing Galatasaray 'an embarrassment from start to finish'.

He said: "People came here tonight wanting to see a fast paced match and they were rolling around the floor. The performance in general was poor, pathetic really. Then you've got players rolling around.

"They got a couple of genuine injuries and as a professional you don't want to see that. But then you see people who aren't really touched and are rolling around on the floor. You get punished for it because they played five minutes at the end of the first half and you get punished even more.

"There were 11 minutes (in total) at the end of the game. The game could have been 11-0 or 12-0 tonight. Liverpool won at a canter. Liverpool were excellent tonight, they made Galatasaray look bang average. But I thought their performance was pathetic."

Pawel Raczkowski had to step in at the last minute to referee Liverpool's game against Galatasaray(Image: Getty Images)

But the Liverpool legend's comments have not gone down well in Turkey, with outlet Haberler suggesting Gerrard's remarks were 'scandalous'.

Visiting head coach Okan Buruk didn't share Gerrard's view and slammed the officials, rather than his players, for the way the game was handled.

"While we were expecting the world's best referee, the world's worst referee managed the match. Liverpool clearly deserved to win," he said.

Galatasaray issued an injury update on Osimhen and Lang shortly after the game with the latter undergoing surgery, with suggesting he had severed part of his finger.

The Dutch international did break his silence on Thursday though, sharing an image of him on a hospital bed with the caption "S--- happens." He added on his Instagram story: "Surgery went well! Thanks for the messages."