Fenerbahce come from behind twice to beat Liverpool 3-2 as Valverde rescues Real Madrid in Athens

Liverpool’s perfect run in Europe is over. Fenerbahce came from behind twice to beat them 3-2 in Istanbul on Wednesday night, with Vedat Muriqi rising above the defence to head the winner 11 minutes from time.

It was a second defeat in four days for Andoni Iraola, who lost to Arsenal at Anfield on Sunday, and the first back-to-back defeats of his tenure. Liverpool had won their first three games of the league phase and now have nine points from four.

How the lead slipped away twice

Iraola made five changes from the Arsenal game, starting Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz on the bench, and his young front line still got Liverpool ahead. Trey Nyoni, 19, scored his first professional goal on 25 minutes when his volley from Rio Ngumoha’s cross took a deflection past Ederson.

The lead lasted four minutes. Mason Greenwood’s free-kick deflected in off Jeremy Jacquet to make it 1-1, and the Sukru Saracoglu crowd, which Iraola said made it “almost impossible to communicate”, grew louder.

Isak came on in the second half and headed Liverpool back in front with his first touch on 69 minutes, meeting a cross from Cody Gakpo. Again it did not last. Four minutes later a mix-up between Gakpo and Alisson let Archie Brown equalise, and on 79 minutes Muriqi climbed above Virgil van Dijk to meet a high cross and win it for Fenerbahce, their first victory of this Champions League campaign. Their coach is Dirk Kuyt, the former Liverpool forward.

“Cheap goals. Messy goals,” Iraola said afterwards. “We have to do better. It is frustrating because it is a difficult place to play.”

Valverde saves Madrid again

In Athens, Real Madrid needed another late comeback. Aboubakary Koita gave AEK an early lead and Jude Bellingham levelled with a backheel that was first ruled out for offside and then allowed after a VAR review.

Stavro Pilo put AEK ahead again late in the second half, but Kylian Mbappe equalised within minutes from Denzel Dumfries’s pass. Then, in the second minute of stoppage time, Federico Valverde struck from long range to win it 3-2 and keep Madrid’s record perfect.

Jose Mourinho had warned before the game that his side had to “approach this seriously” in Greece. They came close to paying for a slow night, as they nearly did last month when Antonio Rudiger’s 90th-minute goal sealed a 4-3 win over Roma.