Fenerbahçe 3-2 Liverpool: Muriqi Late Header Ends Reds' Perfect Start

Vedat Muriqi headed in Archie Brown's cross with 11 minutes left to give Fenerbahçe a 3-2 win over Liverpool in Istanbul, ending the visitors' perfect start to the Champions League and handing Andoni Iraola a second successive defeat.

Match facts

• Result: Fenerbahçe 3-2 Liverpool (half-time 1-1)
• Competition: UEFA Champions League, League Stage, Matchday 4
• Venue: Chobani Stadyumu Fenerbahçe Şükrü Saracoğlu Spor Kompleksi, Istanbul
• Scorers: Fenerbahçe - Greenwood 29', Brown 73', Muriqi 79'; Liverpool - Nyoni 25', Isak 69'
• Assists: Fenerbahçe - Brown (79'); Liverpool - Gakpo (69')
• Red cards: None

How the match unfolded

Liverpool started well and led in the 25th minute. Nineteen-year-old Trey Nyoni met a dropping ball on the volley and it clipped Kojo Peprah Oppong on the way through, leaving Ederson helpless and giving the midfielder his first goal for the club.

The lead survived four minutes. Mason Greenwood's free-kick struck Jeremy Jacquet in the wall and deflected beyond Alisson, and the stadium found another level of noise.

Fenerbahçe had chances to lead before the interval. Kahveci hit the crossbar, and Alisson had to make a smart save to keep the game level. Liverpool, with Bradley Barcola starting as a lone centre-forward, created little else.

Iraola responded by sending on Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Cody Gakpo in the 66th minute, and two of them combined almost immediately. Gakpo worked space on the left and stood up a cross into the six-yard box; Isak, with his first touch, headed it past Ederson on 69 minutes.

Again the lead lasted four minutes. Gakpo's header from N'Golo Kanté's cross took the ball away from his own goalkeeper, and Brown tapped in from close range.

Worse followed on 79. Brown turned provider, and Muriqi headed his cross into the bottom right corner as Liverpool failed to deal with a long throw.

The night belonged to Dirk Kuyt, Fenerbahçe's interim head coach and a former Liverpool player, who hands over to Emre Belözoğlu on Thursday. "Cheap goals. Messy goals," Iraola said in his post-match press conference. "The free-kick is quite far out, through the wall. The last goal was a long throw."

What does the result mean in the table?

Liverpool remain eighth on nine points, three wins from four, and the manner of the defeat will worry Iraola more than the arithmetic. They had scored 12 goals in taking maximum points from their first three games, including the 4-3 win over Villarreal and the 6-3 rout at LASK.

Fenerbahçe climb to 19th on five points with their first win of the campaign. A starting XI that boasted more than 1,000 Premier League appearances between them, including Ederson, N'Golo Kanté and Romelu Lukaku, finally produced a performance to match its reputation, and it eases the memory of the 6-0 defeat at Aston Villa earlier in the competition.

Liverpool must respond quickly. This was a second successive defeat, three days after losing 1-0 to Arsenal at Anfield, and the full Champions League table shows a league phase tightening around them.

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