Smicer came close for Liverpool eight minutes later, twisting and turning away from three defenders before shooting wide across the face of the goal.
Chris Kirkland made a wonderful stop from Fabio to prevent Gala going further ahead on 32 minutes.
Three minutes later Vladimir Smicer crossed from the left for Emile Heskey to head past the keeper for the equaliser.
But Galatasaray came right back with a 20-yard curling free kick from Prates, beating Kirkland to go 2-1 ahead.
Smicer injured his right knee in a challenge for the ball on the hour mark and had to be replaced by Anthony Le Tallec.
Steve Fiinan then made his debut in a Liverpool shirt, coming on for Markus Babbel at right-back.
Liverpool then had a fantastic chance to equalise. Steven Gerrard played a great ball into the path of Pongolle but the French youngster shot wide under pressure from a Gala defender.
Somebody forgot to tell the Galatasaray players it was a friendly. A Biscan challenge cumlinated in a scuffle between the two sides with Unsal getting involved with Gerrard.
Once the referee calmed everyone down he booked Biscan.
The game continued to deteriorate with wild challenges from both sides. Soon after the referee warned both captains Heskey picked up a booking for dissent.
Neil Mellor was only on the field for four minutes when he was given a red card for a late tackle. Steven Gerrard followed him a minute later after picking up a second yellow card for dissent.
The game ended 2-1 to Galatasaray but it was clear that the Liverpool entourage were unhappy both with the conduct of the Turkish side and also with the late decisions be the referee.
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Team: Kirkland, Babbel (Finnan), Hyypia, Traore, Riise, Kewell (Gerrard 64), Smicer (Le Tallec 60), Biscan, Cheyrou, Heskey (Mellor 80), Owen (Pongolle 55).
Subs: Dudek, Finnan, Gerrard, Le Tallec, Carragher, Mellor.