Galatasaray pulled off a remarkable escape on Saturday evening, avoiding embarrassment against bottom-of-the-table Genclerbirligi. However, there was more bad news for Cimbom in terms of personnel.
A carefree Süper Lig season without defeat? Galatasaray had to bury that dream before the international break. A 0-0 draw at Trabzonspor in the top match was followed by a 0-1 away defeat at newly promoted Kocaelispor. Suddenly, the lead over their pursuers and rivals Fenerbahce was gone.
This made the match against newly promoted Genclerbirligi Ankara on matchday 13 all the more important. The fact that it was a home game was an advantage: Galatasaray had not lost in front of their own fans in 32 competitive games.
With Sané, who had recently been outstanding for the German national team, the home side set about their task. However, after just 15 minutes, there was more bad news in terms of personnel: Lemina grabbed his groin and was unable to continue (17′). Shortly afterwards, the underdogs took the lead: Niang was unmarked in the five-meter box and slotted home a Gürpüz free kick from the left half of the field (22′). Galatasaray searched in vain for a response – and then lost another key player: Singo gritted his teeth for a while after a hard tackle at ankle height, but had to be replaced by Icardi in the 40th minute.
Events unfold rapidly from the 55th minute onwards
It was that striker who averted the impending embarrassment after the break. Following a pass from Karatas, the Argentine, who was honored before the game for his 100th competitive appearance for the Turks, equalized in the 55th minute. Two minutes later, the visitors’ own corner flew around their ears, Sané passed to the completely unmarked Icardi – keeper Ricardo Velho parried, but only as far as Yilmaz, who was waiting to tap in (57′). The game had turned around. And this phase could have been even more bitter for Genclerbirligi: Thalisson was shown a second yellow card for a heavy challenge on Karatas (60′). Six minutes later, Gündogan, who had come on at half-time, made it 3-1 (66′).
The game seemed to be over, but Mimaroglu’s header made it 2-3 and brought some excitement back into the game (77′) . However, there was only an inglorious finale at Rams Park: former Freiburg player Sallai accidentally kicked his opponent in the head, prompting the referee to show him a red card after reviewing the video footage (90+4).
Ahead of an immensely important week, Galatasaray at least got back on track: Tuesday’s Champions League fixture at home against Union Saint-Gilloise will be followed by the SüperLig derby at arch-rivals Fenerbahce on December 1.