From www.soccerage.com Amsterdam Tournament: Nine-Man Liverpool Defeated 08/03/2003. Liverpool suffered the first defeat of their pre-season programme when Galatasaray beat them 2-1 in the Amsterdam tournament on Sunday evening. Apart from the match, the Reds lost two players to red cards, plus Vladimir Smicer to injury. Although Emile Heskey headed in for Liverpool, goals from Joao Batista and Cesar Prates ensured a victory for the Turkish giants. Second half substitutes Neil Mellor and Steven Gerrard were sent off late in the game to compound the Merseysiders' misery. However, the most worrying aspect of the day for manager Gerard Houllier was seeing Smicer leave the field in agony. And following injuries to Salif Diao and Dietmar Hamann, another injured player is the last thing Liverpool needed especially as Smicer had enjoyed a successful pre-season prior to the Galatasaray game. In fact Czech international Smicer had also impressed against Gala before he crumpled on the turf in obvious distress following a clash with Cesar Prates just before the hour had passed. By then Gala were already 2-1 ahead. Houllier had made eight changes to the team that started the goalless draw against Ajax on Friday night. Hyypia, Kewell and Owen were the only players to start both games, Kewell again being deployed on the right of midfield ?though he switched to the left after 15 minutes, Smicer moving to the right. The Turks settled more quickly than Liverpool, and took the lead after 20 minutes when Batista finished an incisive attack. The Reds responded by stepping up the pace of their game, and Smicer was unlucky when he beat most of the Gala defence in the area with some slick footwork before shooting just wide of the far post. But the Czech was soon setting up Liverpool's equaliser in the 36th mi- nute, combining with Michael Owen on the right before dropping a cross pre- cisely onto Heskey's forehead. The ex-Leicester man made no mistake from 12 yards, and the Reds were level. It was Heskey's fifth goal in six pre-season games matching his strike rate for the whole of last season. Goalkeeper Chris Kirkland made an impressive double save to thwart Hakan Sukur, but had no chance when Cesar Prates fired in an unstoppable free-kick from 25 yards just before half-time. It proved to be the last and decisive goal of the match. In the second half, Steve Finnan made his Liverpool debut, with Florent- Sinama Pongolle, Anthony Le Tallec and Steven Gerrard were also introduced as the Reds sought an equaliser. Pongolle was unlucky to see a goal-bound shot cleared off the line by Prates. But the game had become an ill-tempered affair, and Mellor received a straight red card for a challenge on Gabriel Tamas. Then Gerrard picked up a second yellow for dissent. --

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