Our Galatasaray faced England's Tottenham team in the fourth match of the UEFA Europa League league stage. We won the match played at Ali Sami Yen Sports Complex 3-2.
Our goals were scored by Yunus Akgün (6') and Victor Osimhen (31', 39'). Tottenham scored with Will Lankshear (18') and Dominic Solanke.
Our Lions rose to 10 points in their UEFA Europa League adventure, with three wins and a draw, and were in the leadership seat with more than a game to spare.
Galatasaray XI: Fernando Muslera, Davinson Sanchez, Abdülkerim Bardakcı, Kaan Ayhan, Lucas Torreira, Gabriel Sara, Yunus Akgün, Barış Alper Yılmaz, Dries Mertens, Mauro Icardi, Victor Osimhen.
Tottenham XI: Fraser Forster, Radu Dragusin, Will Lankshear, Ben Davies, Lucas Bergvall, Brennan Johnson, Pedro Porro, Yves Bissouma, James Maddison, Heung-Min Son.
Our team, which had a stormy first half, created very critical positions by forcing its opponent to make mistakes with its intense pressure at the front. We opened the curtain with Yunus's scoring goal. While the defense received Sara's free kick in the 6th minute, Yunus Akgün shot the ball very hard from outside the penalty area, leaving goalkeeper Forster helpless: 1-0.
Tottenham, who rarely came to our goal, went on the attack with a ball thrown behind the defense. Will Lankshear sent Brenna Johnson's cross on the right wing into the empty goal: 1-1.
After this goal, our team narrowed the field to the opponent and came face to face with a goal in the 25th minute. Osimhen, who entered the penalty area after Sara's through pass, placed the inside of his foot into the far corner. Mertens could not hit the ball accurately, returning from Forster.
Osimhen, who made the trailer of the goal alive in the 30th minute, showed the original film two minutes later while being ruled offside. Winning the ball with Icardi's great pressure, the Nigerian star sent the ball into the net with a stylish shot: 2-1.
In the 39th minute, Osimhen, who came face to face with the goalkeeper again after Yunus' deep pass, got caught in the goalkeeper's obstacle and a minute later, he excited Ali Sami Yen again. Osimhen brought the score to 3-1 with Mertens' cross.
OVERLAPED POSITIONS
Our Lions started the second half quickly and were in a scoring position to make a historic difference in Europe, but missed this opportunity with the saves of goalkeeper Forster. Our team could not find the frame with Icardi after Mertens' pass in the 46th minute, but could not take advantage of the goal opportunity with Osimhen, again fed by Mertens, in the 52nd minute. In the 60th minute, Will Lankshear's harsh move was punished with a red card and the opponent was left with 10 men.
In the 62nd minute, first Barış Alper Yılmaz and then Yunus Akgün's consecutive shots were cleared by the goalkeeper. Tottenham reduced the difference to one in the 69th minute, when the tempo slowed down. The opposing team, coming from the right, scored with Solanke's heel kick: 3-2.
In the 73rd minute, Hakim Ziyech entered the game instead of Dries Mertens. Even though we entered a critical scoring position with Yunus Akgün in the 78th minute, the star player shot wide.
In the 80th minute, Osimhen and Yunus Akgün came to the side. Elias Jelert and Kerem Demirbay took their places. After this change, Mauro Icardi fell to the ground in pain while pressing and could not continue the game. Batshuayi entered the game instead of Icardi, and Gabriel Sara left his place to Berkan Kutlu.
Although Tottenham approached our goal with organized attacks, they only created one dangerous position. Although Muslera cleared the ball coming towards our goal during the 7-minute extra time, Kulusevski's long shot sent into the empty goal floated out.
Even though we attacked the opponent's defense, which took risks in these minutes, with counters twice, we could not achieve a result, but we won the match 3-2.
After this match, we will prepare for the Samsunspor league match.
