Published 5 November 2026
Fenerbahçe3 – 2
LiverpoolDirk Kuyt spent six years as a cult hero at Liverpool. On Wednesday night in Istanbul, he borrowed the most famous comeback in his old club's history and turned it against them.
Twice behind, Fenerbahçe beat Liverpool 3–2 at the Chobani Stadium. Vedat Muriqi's 79th-minute header ended a Champions League winless run of 18 years and seven months. The club's previous victory in the competition came against Chelsea on April 2, 2008, some 6,790 days earlier.
Mason Greenwood earned an 8.2 rating as the player who pulled Fenerbahçe back into the contest at the moment it threatened to run away from them. His goal gave Kuyt's side a foothold they never surrendered, and his presence kept Liverpool's defence on edge long after the interval.
Kuyt drew on Liverpool's 2005 fightback in this city to motivate his players, and the script played out with the roles reversed. Liverpool were ahead as late as the 69th minute. They have never led that late in a major European fixture and still lost.
The first flashpoint came in the 23rd minute. Mason Greenwood was shaping to shoot inside the area when Kostas Tsimikas shoved him in the back. Clement Turpin waved play on, VAR Willy Delajod did not intervene, and Kuyt was booked on the touchline for protesting.
Two minutes later, Fenerbahçe were behind. Dominik Szoboszlai curled a cross in from the left, Archibald Brown headed it away, and Treymaurice Nyoni met the clearance on the edge of the box with a low half-volley from 15 metres. It deflected off Kojo Peprah Oppong and wrong-footed Ederson.
At 19, Nyoni became the youngest player in Liverpool history to score his first senior goal in European competition. His lead lasted four minutes.
Greenwood bent a 25-metre free-kick into the wall, where it struck Jeremy Jacquet and changed direction sharply, leaving Alisson stranded. It was 1–1 at the break.
That passage captured the whole evening. Liverpool had 68% of the ball and won 12 corners to Fenerbahçe's four. Yet Kuyt's side, with just 32% possession, still managed 17 shots to the visitors' 22, and both teams hit the target six times. Fenerbahçe never needed the ball to be dangerous.
Andoni Iraola's substitutes seemed to have settled it. In the 69th minute, Cody Gakpo swung in a deep cross from the left and fellow replacement Alexander Isak rose inside the six-yard box to head home with his first touch. Isak has now scored in three of Liverpool's last six matches and has seven goals in 13 appearances this season.
Four minutes later, it was 2–2. A short-corner routine ended with N'Golo Kanté whipping in a delivery, Gakpo flicked it on, and Brown arrived unmarked at the far post to stab the ball into an empty net.
Then came the winner. Fenerbahçe recycled a throw-in, Brown crossed from the right, and Muriqi, on from the bench, outmuscled three defenders to send a flying header into the bottom-left corner. Inside six minutes, Brown had scored one and created the other.
Liverpool led twice and surrendered both advantages from set-piece situations. English reports fixed on exactly that: a side that lost its composure and grew careless at the back with the game in its hands.
The context makes this remarkable. Kuyt's first match in charge, against Göztepe, went badly wrong. It followed a 2–1 derby defeat to Galatasaray, a 6–0 loss at Aston Villa and a 2–2 draw with Slavia Praha in Europe. After that debut, the fury in Kadıköy was aimed at the board.
Days later, Kuyt reached into Liverpool's own folklore and found an answer. The Turkish press hailed a monumental European night and a historic revival under Kuyt, who has lifted the squad just before handing over to incoming coach Emre Belözoğlu.
Turkish analysts singled out İsmail Yüksek's commanding midfield display, Greenwood's constant threat and Muriqi's physical dominance off the bench. Muriqi now has nine goals in 17 appearances in all competitions, Greenwood eight in 19 and Brown three in 16. Fenerbahçe have scored in each of their last five matches, ten goals in total.
Iraola pointed to the atmosphere. "In the stadium it was almost impossible to communicate, it was difficult for me to give instructions and the communication was difficult between Cody [Gakpo] and Ali [Alisson]," he said. His verdict on the goals Liverpool conceded: "Cheap goals, messy goals."
The English press went further, criticising his extensive rotation. Resting key starters and deploying Bradley Barcola centrally, the critics argued, backfired against an experienced opponent.
It is Liverpool's second straight defeat under Iraola and their third match without a win in all competitions, and it ends their perfect start to the Champions League campaign. They sit eighth on nine points, with the rotation debate now impossible to avoid.
Fenerbahçe, 19th on five points, are back in playoff contention. Days ago the conversation in Istanbul was about who to blame. Now it is whether Belözoğlu can build on the night Kuyt has handed him.
