Galatasaray booked a handsome victory over Lazio on Thursday evening. In Group E of the Europa League, cim bomb finished with the Italians thanks to a remarkable own goal by goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha: 1-0. In the other group match, Gyrano Kerk was very accurate in the 89th minute on behalf of Lokomotiv Moscow, which played 1-1 at home against Olympique Marseille. Marseille’s loss of points is favorable for the Netherlands in the coefficient ranking, which is currently in direct pursuit of France.
Galatasaray – Lazio 1-0
Trainer Fatih Terim had made a base for Patrick van Aanholt and Halil Dervisoglu, among others, while Ryan Babel had to settle for a place on the reserve bench. Galatasaray started the encounter with the Romans convincingly, who lost out in the first half hour. The Turkish formation let the ball go around at a fast pace and kept the pressure on Lazio’s defense. The biggest chance of the first company came in the name of Olimpiu Morutan, who struck hard from just outside the box but saw the ball explode on the crossbar.
What-a-blunder from the Lazio goalkeeper??#GALLAZ pic.twitter.com/KwXjB6MURi
— ESPN NL (@ESPNnl) September 16, 2021
Lazio found it difficult to find his way and did not produce a single shot on goal before half-time. After a disappointing last fifteen minutes in the first company, the teams increased the pace further after the break. Shortly after Luis Alberto saw his shot get caught by goalkeeper Fernando Muslera, who came over from Lazio in 2011, Galatasaray got a big chance through Alexandru Cicaldau. After a return ball from the left, the attacking midfielder was able to print in freedom, but his attempt went just wide. In the 67th minute of play it was hit for the Turks.
Manuel Lazzari shot the ball meters high into the air in a failed attempt to clear it. The leather fell just before the goal line and the rate of descent was completely misjudged by goalkeeper Strakosha, who let the ball slip from his hands and scored an own goal via the post and his own forehead: 1-0. Extra painful for Strakosha is that he is normally the second goalkeeper behind Jose Manuel Reina, and now has the chance to prove himself under the bar.
Sergej Milinkovic-Savic had a huge opportunity four minutes later to tie the score immediately, but face to face with Muslera, the midfielder lacked sharpness in the finish. At Galatasaray, Babel finally came in at the expense of Kerem Aktürkoglu; however, the score on the scoreboard did not change.
Lokomotiv Moscow – Olympique Marseille 1-1
Lokomotiv came closest to scoring in the first half in the person of Fedor Smolov. However, the former Feyenoord striker hit the bar from the edge of the penalty area. After the break, the Russians ran into problems with a foul by Nayair Tiknizyan, who caused a penalty and also received his second yellow card. The penalty was shot in by Cengiz Ünder: 0-1. An absolute star role by Kerk prevented a defeat for Lokomotiv. The attacker, who came over from FC Utrecht, came on in the 75th minute and made the equalizer a minute before the end, by coming in from the left and shooting the ball hard into the far bottom corner: 1-1.