Fenerbahce 3-2 Liverpool: Greenwood 29, Brown 73, Muriqi 79; Nyoni 25, Isak 69
The manner of defeat was painful for Liverpool but in fairness Fenerbahce had matched them all evening. Andoni Iraola’s side had enough attacking quality to take control of the match twice, but their Turkish opponents happily sunk their teeth into the gaping weaknesses at the back.
The defeat compounds a difficult short spell for Liverpool, who had already lost to Arsenal at the weekend. Their Champions League record had been perfect until tonight, but that evaporated into the Istanbul night air thanks to a spirited Fenerbahce comeback. The hosts had not needed to dominate possession to expose their visitors, who repeatedly struggled to deal with balls into their penalty area.
There was still plenty of encouragement for Liverpool in the performance of Trey Nyoni. The teenager scored his first senior goal and looked comfortable in midfield, but his contribution was overshadowed by the defensive mistakes around him.
Iraola made five changes from the side that faced Arsenal as Liverpool continued a demanding run of fixtures. Alexander Isak, Cody Gakpo and Florian Wirtz were among those left out initially, with Bradley Barcola asked to lead the attack.
Liverpool controlled much of the opening period and looked the more dangerous side. Rio Ngumoha caused problems with his pace and movement, but Fenerbahce gradually found ways to threaten the visitors.
Mason Greenwood came close to winning a penalty after a fine pass from Archie Brown exposed Liverpool’s defence. Kostas Tsimikas was caught out and brought the forward down, but the referee waved away the appeals.
Liverpool soon made their possession count. Ngumoha drove forward and his effort was blocked before the ball fell to Dominik Szoboszlai. The midfielder’s cross was headed clear by Brown, but Nyoni collected the loose ball and fired a low volley past Ederson.
Not the result we wanted, but thank you for your backing in Istanbul, Reds 👏❤️ https://t.co/LCslB0Bg6O
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) November 4, 2026
Liverpool appeared to have settled into the match, but their advantage did not last long. Fenerbahce came close to an immediate equaliser when Irfan Can Kahveci struck the crossbar, but it arrived soon afterwards anyway as Greenwood’s free kick took a deflection off Jeremy Jacquet and wrongfooted Alisson.
Still, Iraola’s side were again in control after the break. Isak and Gakpo were introduced and combined almost immediately to restore the lead. Gakpo delivered a cross from the left and Isak rose above the defence to head home.
They kept pushing to secure the game but Fenerbahce found a way back when N’Golo Kante delivered a cross after a corner and Gakpo’s attempted clearance sent the ball towards the far post. Brown was left unmarked and had a simple finish.
Liverpool’s defence then let them down in the closing stages. Brown sent another ball into the penalty area and Vedat Muriqi rose above three Liverpool players to head into the bottom corner.
