Osimhen strikes fear into Arne Slot ahead of Liverpool centurion milestone

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has acknowledged Victor Osimhen’s goal-scoring prowess ahead of their away clash against Galatasaray tonight, Afrik Foot reports.

The Dutch manager is in his second season at Anfield after he won the league in his maiden campaign.

Tonight, Slot heads out of the dugout for the 100th time since he joined the Merseysiders, winning 62 of his 99 games in charge.

Liverpool vs Galatasaray: Arne Slot wary of Osimhen threat

Both sides have locked horns earlier this season, in the group phase of the UEFA Champions League.

Osimhen had just returned from injury, but his only goal from twelve yards in front of the RAMS Park crowd made all the difference for Okan Buruk’s side, even though the Nigerian played 71 minutes.

That was just one of the two losses Liverpool suffered in the group phase, and Slot has urged his team to be switched on against the 2023 CAF Player of the Year in a bid to avoid a recurrence of what happened last September.

“Indeed we played them, so we knew them already really well. And after playing them, we know them better.

“And now before playing them, you start to watch even more games. I have a lot of respect for Galatasaray, for their manager.

“He’s been so successful here as a player and now as a manager, won so much with this club. Recently they played Besiktas – who have one of my former players, Orkun Kokcu, who I know is a very good player as well – but they are even able to beat Besiktas with 10 men, so that tells you a lot about how the team is fighting, if that is necessary,” the former Feyenoord manager said in quotes revealed by Liverpool’s official website.

“I think Galatasaray has a lot of weapons, but transition is definitely one of them.

“Of course, one of the first ones you think about is [Victor] Osimhen, who is also a great striker in the box, can score from crosses, can score in multiple ways, but definitely a big threat on the counter-attack as well.

“But they have more than only Osimhen in their front three that are really fast. Last game we played them, it was [Baris Alper] Yilmaz who was twice a bit too fast for us because twice he was going towards the goalkeeper in the first half.

“So, a lot of offensive threat and a lot of pace and we need to be really aware of that – and we will because we played them already.

“We know now how fast they are and what qualities they have, even more than last time.

“But it’s not always if you know what the strength of the team [that] you can prevent it from happening and that’s the challenge for us tomorrow,” Arne Slot continued.

Quizzed about what it means to reach a century of games for Liverpool, the one-time English Premier League-winning coach said;

“First of all, it makes me really proud that I become the Liverpool manager and that it is going to be my 100th game.

“I don’t think I have a bad track record in those 100 game, although sometimes, you get a different feeling about that if I have to listen to everything! But it makes me proud and it’s nice that the 100th game is such a nice game to play – Champions League last 16, away game against Galatasaray.

“As always, it’s never about the manager, it’s always about the players. I’ll try to prepare them just as good as all the other 99 games I’ve done before.

“But it’s always the players who have to then perform and I’ve been very lucky that I’ve been given a very good team in both seasons, last season and this season.

“I have all the trust that these players will perform at the levels that we are used to from a Liverpool team.”

The first game of the two-legged tie will be played at RAMS Park, while the return leg will be played at Anfield next week.