JAKARTA - Arne Slot said Liverpool are ready to face the roar of the crowd in Turkey, after admitting he was surprised by the deafening Champions League atmosphere at Galatasaray's home earlier this season.
The Reds resume their quest for continental glory on Wednesday, March 11, 2026, early morning WIB, at the sure-to-be-roar Rams Park, where they suffered a 0-1 league defeat in September 2025.
Liverpool will face an even hotter environment when they return to Galatasaray's home, who are playing in their first Champions League 16-year since 2014 and backed by a glorious playoff victory against Juventus. The stunning 5-2 home win in the first leg gave a 7-5 aggregate victory against Juventus.
Arne Slot knows Galatasaray have a double motivation and the Reds will face intensity from the stands and on the field.
"The fans here (Galatasary stadium) are impressive. We realized it when playing here. The good thing is we've experienced it once."
"It's a positive thing even though Galatasaray players experience it in every home game. For us it's a new thing."
"When you have the ball, the whistling is very loud, very loud! It's a new thing for me and even for all my experienced players."
"The good thing is that we have experienced it, but we are not just playing against the fans, 11 very good players with a very good manager," said the Liverpool Manager.
The match against Galatasaray marked Arne Slot's 100th game as Liverpool Manager.
"I'm very proud to be Liverpool manager and this will be my 100th game. I think my record is not bad even though sometimes you get a different feeling about it if I have to listen to everything!"
"It's nice that the 100th game is a good game, namely the Champions League, the 16th round, away against Galatasaray."
"However, as usual, it's not about the manager, it's about the players. I try to prepare them as well as possible like the 99 previous games, but the players who have to perform."
"I'm lucky to have a really good team last season and this season. I fully believe that these players will perform at the level they usually show at Liverpool," said Arne Slot.
Arne Slot took a squad of 21 players to Turkey, where goalkeeper Alisson Becker and Federico Chiesa were absent.
"Federico also did not participate in the training session. He felt unwell (on Sunday night) so he did not train with us (on Monday) and did not travel with us."
"Ali took part in the training session, but unfortunately felt something towards the end of the session. People saw it, we decided together that his condition was not good enough to play and there was no point in traveling," said Arne Slot.
Meanwhile, Arne Slot also could not confirm whether Alisson could be fit to face Tottenham this weekend.
"Of course there is a chance (to play), yes, because we don't expect it to be a big problem, but the conditions are too bad to be able to play (against Galatasaray)," he said.
Alisson's injury means Giorgi Mamardashvili will start his 11th game as a starter this season.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
