UCL: Salah's 50th goal, Osimhen's broken arm and Liverpool's great comeback - 5 things we learnt

Liverpool produced a stunning second-half blitz to beat Galatasaray 4-0 at Anfield and progress 4-1 on aggregate to the Champions League quarterfinals. 

Three goals in 11 minutes turned the tie on its head, but the night's defining moment came much earlier, when Victor Osimhen limped off at half-time with a fractured right arm. Here are the five things we learnt.

1. Osimhen was the difference - but losing him at HT changed everything

Before we talk about Liverpool's brilliance, we need to talk about what Galatasaray lost before the second half even started. Osimhen took a heavy collision with Ibrahima Konate early in the game, the same defender he had tormented in Istanbul a week earlier. 

He battled through the first 45 minutes in visible agony with what turned out to be a fractured right arm, refusing to leave his team short when they needed him most.

The numbers tell the story. With Osimhen on the pitch, even injured, Galatasaray had a focal point, a threat, a reason for Liverpool's defence to think twice. Without him, they had nothing. Zero shots on target in the entire second half. 

Okan Buruk's side were completely toothless the moment their talisman went down the tunnel. That is the measure of what Osimhen means to this Galatasaray team.

2. Anfield is still the most intimidating ground in European football

Galatasaray had beaten Liverpool twice this season. They arrived at Anfield as genuine believers, backed by a raucous RAMS Park crowd in the first leg and the knowledge that they had already done the hard part. 

But Anfield is different. With away fans banned and 54,000 Liverpool supporters creating a wall of noise from the first whistle, the atmosphere was suffocating for the Turkish champions.

The Kop does not just cheer its team, it physically destabilises the opposition. Galatasaray, who had been so composed and disciplined in Istanbul, looked nervous and disorganised from the opening minutes. 

By the time Liverpool's second-half blitz arrived, the Turkish giants had already been broken mentally. Anfield did what Anfield always does.

3. Liverpool's second-half blitz was one of the most clinical 11 minutes in UCL history

Three goals in 11 minutes. That is not a comeback, that is an execution. Liverpool came out for the second half with a different energy entirely.

The Reds  pressed higher, moved faster, and exposed a Galatasaray side that had lost their most important player at the break. 

Arne Slot's half-time talk clearly worked. Whatever he said in that dressing room turned a tense, evenly poised tie into a rout within eleven minutes of the restart.

4. Salah wrote his name into Champions League history

Mohamed Salah's night had everything. The lows first, a stoppage-time Panenka penalty attempt that Cakır read perfectly, standing tall and making the save look embarrassingly simple. 

The Kop groaned. Liverpool went in at half-time level on aggregate and uncertain. Then Salah went away, regrouped, and came back out for the second half to score a world-class curling strike in the 62nd minute, his 50th Champions League goal, that sealed one of Anfield's great European nights.

Fifty Champions League goals. Only Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski and Karim Benzema have scored more in the competition's history. Salah now sits fifth on that list, the Panenka miss will be forgotten by morning. The milestone goal will last forever.

5. Nigeria lost far more than a football match at Anfield last night

Liverpool won the tie and Galatasaray are out. But for Nigeria, the scoreline is almost secondary to what happened to Victor Osimhen in the first half of this match. 

A fractured right arm, suffered in a collision with Konate while fighting bravely for his team, has opened a wound that goes far beyond one Champions League elimination.

Galatasaray lead the Super Lig by seven points, but without Osimhen, that title charge suddenly looks very different. He has scored 12 league goals this season and was the focal point of everything Buruk's side did going forward. Trabzonspor and Fenerbahce will have watched last night's news with enormous interest.

And then there is the Super Eagles. Nigeria's next fixtures, their entire forward line,  all of it now carries a question mark. Osimhen is not just a player for this country. He is the plan and right now, the plan is in a sling at a hospital in England.

The full implications of his injury will become clearer in the days ahead. But this much is already certain, Anfield gave Liverpool a famous European night, and Nigeria one of the scariest moments of their football year.