Fenerbahçe twice come from behind to beat Liverpool 3-2
Liverpool led twice in Istanbul, but Fenerbahçe equalised quickly each time and Vedat Muriqi's late goal won a five-goal Champions League match.
By Harvey Watkins,
Fenerbahçe beat Liverpool 3-2 at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium on Wednesday evening in Matchday 4 of the Champions League. They fell behind twice and took the lead for the first time only in the 79th minute. Vedat Muriqi scored the winner, six minutes after Archie Brown had drawn the home side level for the second time.
The outline of the match is simple. Liverpool scored first in each half, and on neither occasion did their lead last longer than four minutes.
A quick reply before the break
Trey Nyoni opened the scoring for Liverpool in the 25th minute. Fenerbahçe's answer came almost at once, with Mason Greenwood equalising in the 29th minute. There was no further scoring before the interval, and the sides went in at 1-1.
What followed was the longest goalless stretch of the evening: 40 minutes, running from Greenwood's equaliser into the second half. Every goal that decided the outcome came after it.
Four goals in ten minutes
Alexander Isak restored Liverpool's lead in the 69th minute. It was the second time the visitors had gone in front, and the pattern of the first half repeated itself. Archie Brown equalised in the 73rd minute, again within four minutes of the Liverpool goal.
Six minutes later Muriqi put Fenerbahçe ahead at 3-2. That was the last goal, so the home side, who had spent part of the evening behind, led for the final stretch and kept that lead to the finish.
The decisive passage lasted only ten minutes. Between the 69th and 79th minutes the match went from level to a Liverpool lead, back to level and then to a Fenerbahçe lead. Nobody who left at 1-1 with 20 minutes to go would have recognised the scoreline at full time.
What the scoresheet shows
A few things stand out from the sequence of goals.
- Liverpool's leads were brief. They were in front for around eight minutes in total across the two spells.
- Fenerbahçe's replies were prompt. Both equalisers came four minutes after they had fallen behind.
- The home goals came from different players. Greenwood, Brown and Muriqi scored one each, so the comeback did not rest on a single scorer.
The scoresheet records who scored and when, but it does not show how the minutes in between were played. It should not be read as proof that one side was on top throughout. A team can lead twice and lose, or come from behind twice and win, for reasons a list of goals cannot show. It does make clear that Liverpool could not hold either of their advantages for long, and that Fenerbahçe were the side still level or ahead whenever the match turned.
On the night, that was enough. Liverpool scored twice away from home in the Champions League and still went away with nothing. Fenerbahçe twice answered almost straight away and then found a third goal when it mattered.