Liverpool ended their Premier League malaise by beating Galatasaray 4-0 at Anfield to enter the Champions League quarterfinals.
Goals from Dominik Szoboszlai, Hugo Ekitke, Ryan Gravenberch and Mohamed Salah on Tuesday helped Arne Slott’s men overturn a 1-0 first-leg deficit to set up a reunion with defending champions Paris Saint-Germain in the last eight.
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Slott needs a response from the English champions after being booed at Anfield on Sunday in a recent string of poor performances in a 1-1 draw against struggling Tottenham.
A Champions League finish in fifth place in the Premier League could save Liverpool’s season and Slott’s job.
The Dutchman rested some of his stars at the weekend and were rewarded with a strong performance that could have led to an even more comprehensive scoreline.
Galatasaray’s hopes of causing an upset were dealt a huge blow in the first few minutes when star striker Victor Osimhen injured his forearm in a collision with Ibrahima Konate.
The Nigeria international continued until half-time, visibly shaken when he was replaced by Leroy Sane.
By that time, the Turkish champions’ advantage had already been erased.
Szoboszlai was Liverpool’s best performer in a troubled season and leveled the tie with a cushioned finish from a well-worked corner on 25 minutes.
Galatasaray somehow escaped further punishment before the break.
Salah missed a brilliant chance to immediately double the Reds’ lead when he failed to chip past Ugurkan Cakir.
Florian Wirtz’s deflected effort flew just wide and Cakir parried another sweet Szoboszlai strike.
The Turkiye goalkeeper then saved Salah’s poor penalty after Szoboszlai was lofted inside the box.
But the floodgates opened on the visitors in the second half. Salah atoned for the penalty miss, with an inch-perfect pass for ETK to slot home.
Two minutes later, Grevenburch fired in a rebound that Salah saved.
Salah has been a shadow of his former self this season, either side of a public bust-up with Slott after being dropped in December.
He could and should have had more on the night, but recorded his 50th Champions League goal in some style with a brilliant strike from Wirtz’s backheel.
Salah hit the bar before being asked to be substituted due to injury concerns as Galatasaray offered little resistance to waves of Liverpool attacks.
The Reds face a different challenge against PSG, who thrashed Chelsea 8-2 to reach the last eight.
Slott has repeatedly spoken in glowing terms of the French champions.
Liverpool came close to stopping PSG last season as Luis Enrique’s men triumphed on penalties in the last 16 after a titanic fightback.
Szoboszlai said he was happy to win in such emphatic fashion, but warned that PSG would pose a formidable task.
“Today, we showed the right direction of where to go and what to show everyone,” he told TNT Sports.
“I saw yesterday’s game against Chelsea (PSG), they were not a worse team than last season. But we showed today that we are capable of doing everything.”
Elsewhere, Harry Kane scored a brace in Bayern’s 4-1 win over Atalanta to complete a 10-2 aggregate win.
Barcelona beat Newcastle United 7-2 by a score of 8-3, with captain Rafina bagging two goals and an assist each, and Robert Lewandowski also bagging a brace.
Tottenham Hotspur fought back against Atletico and won 3-2 thanks to a late penalty from Xavi Simmons for an individual brace, but they lost 5-2 in Spain last week.
Liverpool and Arsenal are just two of the six Premier League teams to advance on Tuesday as Chelsea and Manchester City face title-holders Paris Saint-Germain and record winners Real Madrid respectively on Tuesday, according to the results. Arsenal, for their part, knocked out Bayer Leverkusen.
The quarter-final matches on April 7-8 and 14-15 are Real vs Bayern, Atletico vs Barcelona, PSG vs Liverpool and Sporting vs Arsenal.
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