Thursday, July 22, 2021 at 2:07 PM• Rian Rosendaal

Following Fernando Muslera, Ryan Babel dons the robes after Galatasaray’s painful 5-1 defeat against PSV in the second qualifying round of the Champions League. The winger quickly receives encouraging messages on his Instagram post. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar also leaves a comment on Thursday, although it is a joke of the currently clubless striker, who played with Babel at Ajax and the Dutch.

“That was a bad performance by our team, there are no excuses for that,” the guilty Babel opens on Instagram on Thursday. “But we know how it goes in football. We can only keep our heads up and make sure we are there next week.” Huntelaar quickly responded with a light-hearted response: “4-0 and you’re doorrrrrrr..”, writes the 37-year-old attacker. That is not entirely correct, because as of this season away goals do not count double. If the Turks do indeed win 4-0, an extension will follow.

Nigel de Jong hopes that Babel can quickly put the heavy defeat of Wednesday evening in Eindhoven behind him. “Nothing is impossible in football.” Galatasaray will therefore have a big job next Wednesday to reach the third preliminary round in the Champions League. If PSV is still eliminated, a meeting with Celtic or FC Midtjylland will follow. Both teams tied each other in Glasgow on Wednesday evening: 1-1.