Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk called for improvement and an end to silly errors after his side went down 1-0 at Galatasaray in the Champions League on Tuesday and suffered the loss of goalkeeper Alisson to injury.

The defeat was Liverpool’s second in a row after the Premier League leaders lost their 100% record at Crystal Palace last Saturday.

“I hate losing. There shouldn’t be panic, but there should be definitely improvement needed,” the Dutch centre back said on Amazon Prime.

“I think it was a big step up in terms of the willingness, the hard work that we put in from the weekend, but that was not really too difficult because the weekend was just bad.

“We have to convert chances, don’t give a penalty away today and don’t make stupid mistakes at times. It’s far too easy to say these things than to actually make it happen but it’s a process and we have to keep going.

“Keep working, stick together and onto the next one. That’s the only thing we can focus on.”

Liverpool lost out to an early penalty, slotted home by Victor Osimhen, in a game played in an intimidating cauldron of a stadium after fireworks had been let off outside the team hotel overnight.

Manager Arne Slot said he was disappointed but the performance was still a lot better than last Saturday and it all came down to fine margins, with the team not so far off last season’s level.

“We’ve lost now twice in a row, this is something with the schedule coming as well. Galatasaray away is not an easy game, the same like Palace, and now we play Chelsea away so difficult games,” he explained.

“I saw a lot of things. First half, the way we played, the way we controlled the game, the amount of times we got our attackers in promising positions.

“In the second half, that was much less. But I don’t think in the second half there was a lot of playing time. Their striker was four or five times on the floor, substitutions, injuries.”

Alisson’s loss, with the goalkeeper ruled out of Saturday’s game at Chelsea, is a big one and Liverpool also had Hugo Ekitike go off injured.

With record signing Alexander Isak still not up to match fitness, but coming on as a second-half substitute along with Mohamed Salah, and some new players yet to gel Liverpool can ill afford to lose a scoring talent like Ekitike.

Salah’s form is also a concern, with the Egyptian last starting a Champions League game on the bench three years ago and making little impact when he came on.

‘Special One’ Mourinho makes low-key, losing return to Chelsea

Benfica coach Jose Mourinho left Stamford Bridge with a 1-0 defeat

In his glory days, Jose Mourinho celebrated dramatic goals from his teams by sprinting down the touchline, sometimes sliding on his knees for extra euphoric effect.

On Tuesday, back at his former club Chelsea as the new coach of Benfica, Mourinho’s most eye-catching intervention was down the touchline again, but this time his run was to urge his team’s fans to stop hurling objects onto the pitch.

Benfica under Mourinho, in his fourth game in charge, were defeated 1-0 by an under-strength Chelsea side in the Champions League after a fist-half Richard Rios own goal.

The self-declared “Special One” was lauded by the home fans with a few choruses of “Jose Mou-rin-ho” in recognition of his successes – three Premier League titles and four other trophies – which no other Chelsea manager has come close to matching.

Mourinho, 62, acknowledged the chants with a gentle wave, got a cheer when he ventured onto the pitch to clear a spare ball and quickly vanished down the tunnel at the final whistle after shaking the hand of Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca.

It was all a far cry from the fervour of 20 years ago when Mourinho – having led Porto to an unlikely Champions League triumph – turned Chelsea into English champions for the first time in 50 years in 2005 and won the title again a year later.

After a collapse of form, Mourinho departed in 2007 but he won the Champions League again, this time with Inter Milan in 2010, knocking out the Londoners on the way to the final.

He went on to manage Real Madrid before returning to Chelsea where he claimed a third English title and then had spells at Manchester United, London side Tottenham Hotspur – an unforgivable move for many Chelsea fans at the time – and Roma.

As the big offers dried up, Mourinho went on to coach Fenerbahce in Turkey where he lasted little more than a year before his return to Portuguese football with Benfica.

Asked after Tuesday’s defeat by Chelsea if he still had the drive of the early days of his career, Mourinho insisted he felt more motivated.

“If I am in a job it’s because I like to put myself on the line every day,” he told reporters. “I am desperate to win the next match.”

Mourinho said he thought Benfica had deserved more from the game. “We started well, we controlled well. I don’t know if I can say big chances but we had chances for sure.”

Chelsea’s Maresca said he was relieved to secure a win – albeit a scrappy one – after two consecutive defeats in the Premier League and a 3-1 loss at Bayern Munich in the his side’s Champions League opener.

“Sometimes you need to learn to win in another way,” he said of Chelsea’s improved defensive performance. “At least we learned how to win a game with a red card.”

Striker Joao Pedro was dismissed for a second yellow card after coming on as a substitute, the third time in four matches that Chelsea have finished with 10 men.

Spurs scrape 2-2 draw thanks to Bodo/Glimt own goal

Tottenham Hotspur needed an 89th-minute own goal to salvage a point at Bodo/Glimt as they battled back from two goals down to draw 2-2 on Tuesday in the first Champions League game ever played inside the Arctic Circle.

The Norwegians, who lost to Spurs in the Europa League semi-finals last season, had a first-half penalty skied over the bar by Kasper Hogh but Hauge made no mistake after the break as he curled home a superb shot in the 53rd minute.

Tottenham hit back immediately through Rodrigo Bentancur but the goal was ruled out for a foul in the build-up and they were soon two down has Hauge struck again, this time with a left-footed effort in the 66th minute to make it 2-0.

Captain Micky van de Ven pulled a goal back with a header two minutes later but Spurs continued to struggle and the hosts looked to be heading for a famous victory until goalkeeper Nikita Haikin blocked a shot that bounced off substitute Jostein Gundersen and into the net for a late equaliser.