Florian Wirtz was not at his best when Liverpool lost 1-0 to Galatasaray in their first-leg, last-16 meeting last week.
Wirtz had just returned from injury and was put straight back into the XI by Arne Slot.
However, the German was given a 4/10 rating against Galatasaray, and manager Okan Buruk has now admitted that his players figured out how to deal with the versatile Liverpool midfielder pretty quickly after a tricky start.
Looks like Arne Slot will be benching Rio Ngumoha vs Galatasaray…
Slot said Rio would only start one game out of the next three before Spurs. How’d you feel about that?
Galatasaray figured out how to deal with Florian Wirtz
Buruk was speaking to the media ahead of the second-leg clash on March 18 when he was asked about Liverpool’s team selection.
As per Fanatik, he said: “I was expecting Gomez, he has an injury for tomorrow, I read that he probably won’t play. They always have changes at right back. You can’t really put this in, if you have Mac Allister, Gravenberch, Szoboszlai in the midfield and Gakpo and Salah on the wing, where will Wirtz play?
“To play all four players he plays Szoboszlai at right back. He might think about that tomorrow for the offensive game.
“In the first game, Wirtz came in a lot from the edge, in the first minutes we couldn’t settle against it but then we managed. We know our opponent, we know what they will do. We need to focus on our own game a little bit, I will think about what we can do better.”
Liverpool’s best front four to beat Galatasaray
Buruk’s claim does ring true, as while Wirtz just returning from a spell on the sidelines must be taken into account, the 23-year-old was still way off his best when cutting in off the left wing.
As a result, with Liverpool needing to score at least one just to take the game to extra time, Slot will probably need to change up his attack on Wednesday evening.
The Dutchman has already hinted that Rio Ngumoha will not start the game, but the only other alternative to the teenager on the left, besides Wirtz, would be Cody Gakpo.
Will Gakpo be in the XI? Most likely. But the best front four for the game would actually be Ngumoha, Hugo Ekitike, Mohamed Salah, and then the former Bayer Leverkusen man playing in the number 10 role.
That does leave Dominik Szoboszlai as the odd man out again, but he will probably start at right-back anyway.
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