Liverpool comeback stat emerges before Galatasaray as Mohamed Salah chases Champions League history

History suggests that Liverpool have little to fear when they host Galatasaray in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 showdown on Wednesday night.

The Reds have several wrongs to right when they welcome the Turkish giants to Anfield for the second leg, having succumbed to a 1-0 loss at Rams Park during last week's opening encounter.

Mario Lemina's early strike condemned Liverpool to defeat in Turkey, a few months on from the Premier League champions' league-phase loss by the same scoreline to Okan Buruk's side.

While Anfield has become renowned for a raucous atmosphere on European nights, there was an unfamiliar toxic air about the place at full time following Sunday's 1-1 Premier League draw with relegation battlers Tottenham Hotspur.

Under-pressure head coach Arne Slot is facing increasing calls to lose his job in the wake of another uninspiring performance, but the Dutchman can take confidence from a particular aspect of Liverpool's European history.

Liverpool boast strong UEFA record after first-leg one-goal defeat

Prior to the 2025-26 season, in all UEFA two-legged knockout ties, Liverpool had suffered a one-goal defeat in the first leg away from home on 13 different occasions.

From those 13 ties, the Reds managed to progress from nine of them, only failing to turn the deficit around at Anfield on four occasions - highlighting the powerful factor of their home ground.

Liverpool's overall record after losing a UEFA first leg away from home does not make for such pleasant reading, though, as they have lost 11 of their last 16 ties in continental competition in such circumstances - either conceding one goal or more on the road.

Furthermore, in the Champions League alone, Liverpool have only ever progressed to the next round after losing the first leg away from home on two different occasions.

Both of those triumphs came in semi-finals, firstly against Chelsea in the 2006-07 edition, before their colossal Barcelona comeback in the 2018-19 campaign.

Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk aiming for landmark achievements in Liverpool vs. Galatasaray

Two members of the Liverpool squad who were involved in the latter tie - Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk - will also be out to achieve new landmarks in Wednesday's second-leg showdown.

Salah failed to fire in last week's first leg and was benched for the draw with Tottenham on Sunday, but he is just one goal away from reaching 50 in the Champions League.

The Egypt international has netted 46 for Liverpool, two for Basel and one for Roma in the UCL, and he could become the first African player to reach a half-century of goals in the competition on Wednesday night.

Meanwhile, Van Dijk has already contributed to five goals in the 2025-26 Champions League - two of his own and three assists - the most by a Liverpool centre-back in a single campaign.

The last centre-back to register more goal involvements in a single Champions League season was Jerome Boateng, who claimed six for Bayern Munich in 2014-15.