LIVERPOOL stars were given a rude awakening after Galatasaray fans set off fireworks outside their team hotel in the middle of the night.
Arne Slot’s Reds are in Turkey to face the Super Lig kings in Tuesday’s Champions League group stage clash.
XLiverpool stars were woken up as Galatasaray fans let off fireworks[/caption]
XThe supporters lit up the sky outside Liverpool’s team hotel[/caption]
But there could be some tired eyes among the visitors after their sleep was interrupted in the worst possible way
Liverpool aces including Alexander Isak, Mo Salah and Florian Wirtz will likely have jolted out of bed after Galatasaray fans launched a massive fireworks display outside their hotel.
The supporters crept up to the building in the middle of the night.
But they soon announced their presence by setting off multiple screeching fireworks around Liverpool’s base.
The incredible display lit up the dark skies of Istanbul, with videos of the incident posted online at 3.55am local time.
Yet the noise alone will have been enough to stop any Reds star from getting a decent night’s kip.
The colourful display is just a taste of what Liverpool should expect tonight.
The Turkish capital is famous for its passionate supporters, with the city divided up between fierce rivals Galatasaray, Fenerbahce and Besiktas.
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Gala fans are sure to make an even louder noise when they welcome Liverpool to Rams Park, with flares and tifos often deployed to produce an intimidating atmosphere.
Ozan Burak’s side are also sure to be confident of getting a result, having won all seven of their league matches this season.
XLiverpool players are sure to have been woken up by the noise[/caption]
XIt is just a taste of what the Reds can expect tonight[/caption]
Galatasaray have also lifted the last three Turkish titles after building a super squad.
Former Man City pair Ilkay Gundogan and Leroy Sane will be among the stars on display, with ex-Napoli striker Victor Osimhen and former Inter Milan captain Mauro Icardi providing the goal threat.
As for Liverpool, they are without Giovanni Leoni after the defender’s season-ending ACL injury.
However, Federico Chiesa has not travelled after being registered in Leoni’s stead.
The Italian came off the bench to net a late equaliser against Crystal Palace on Saturday.
But the Eagles managed to score an even later winner, with Liverpool now determined to bounce back from their first defeat of the campaign.
‘Welcome to Hell’ – not any more
IT is the city that once chilled the blood of English fans – and was the backdrop to arguably Liverpool’s greatest night.
But as Arne Slot and his modern-day Reds prepare to face Galatasaray in Istanbul this evening, there will be far less trepidation than was once the case.
The passion of Turkish fans remains immense – just ask Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer about that as they count their recent pay-offs.
But for two decades or more, any match in Turkey’s biggest city was about that “Welcome to Hell”, an intimidating journey into a combustible landscape.
One where, it seemed, literally anything would go – on and off the pitch.
It all started in 1993 as Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United embarked on their first Champions League campaign and travelled to the Bosphorus after a 3-3 home draw in the first leg, needing to win to reach the eight team league stage.
But Fergie and his players realised what they were facing as Galatasaray supporters mobbed the airport, greeting their arrival by banging on the perspex security walls, waving banners promising “Welcome to Hell” and chanting: “Kill! Kill! Kill!”
Bellboys at the team’s city centre hotel made throat-slitting gestures to the players, with many of them receiving phone calls in their rooms in the middle of the night.
And when they got to the Ali Sami Yen Stadium it was sheer bedlam, despite a capacity of just 24,000.
United could not find the goal they needed and in scenes of chaos after a late red card for Eric Cantona, Bryan Robson and other players accused the riot police of attacking them, leaving Fergie, never a shrinking violet, to declare: “I never want to play them again.”
The incidents set a template, Galatasaray fans revelling in their now infamous reputations.
It did not always work. After scoring twice in a 5-0 romp for Chelsea in 1999, Tore-Andre Flo said: “If this is Hell, then Hell is a very nice place!”
Teams and fans flew there with huge safety concerns, which grew after two Leeds supporters were knifed to death ahead of their side’s Uefa Cup semi-final defeat in 2000.
Liverpool supporters have a different memory of the city after the 2005 “Miracle in Istanbul” comeback against AC Milan.
But that was in the sprawling Ataturk Olympic Stadium 60 miles outside the city centre.
The Ali Sami Yen remained a place of menace but in 2011 it disappeared off the football map.
Galatasaray moved from their central location to a new 52,000-capacity home – double the size – four miles north.
While it retained the official name of the club’s founder, it was part of the “Ali Sami Yen Sports Complex”, with the stadium, now known as “Rams Park” the centre-point.
It is impressive and the noise is great. But the extra size has made it just another stadium.
Galatasaray have had European wins over United in 2012-13 and Spurs in the Europa League initial phase last term but were crushed 4-1 by Arsenal in 2014-15 and had draws with Chelsea and the Old Trafford side.
Slot and Liverpool can expect a raucous “welcome” and a blaze of the club’s red and yellow colours.
But “Hell”? Not really. Nothing compared to what they face at Newcastle or Old Trafford, for sure.
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