Sunday, September 26, 2021 at 8:11 PM• Yanick Vos

Galatasaray has won the Turkish league for the first time since August 23. The team of trainer Fatih Terim was 2-1 too strong for Göztepe on Sunday evening. The victory was not easy, as the home team fell behind on the stroke of half-time. After tea, repairs were carried out.

Just before half time things went wrong for Galatasaray, where Patrick van Aanholt played ninety minutes and Ryan Babel did not get off the bench. Sloppy loss of the ball by Christian Luyindama in the build-up led to the 0-1. The Galatasaray defender pushed the ball into the feet of Halil Akbunar, who put the ball behind the home side’s defence. Cherif Ndiaye valued the pass and dealt with Fernando Muslera who had come out.

The equalizer came shortly after the break. Halil Dervisoglu took advantage of a huge blunder by Göztepe goalkeeper Irfan Egribayat with a weak long shot. Dervisoglu made an attempt from about 25 meters in front of the opponent’s goal. His shot was weak, but Egribayat misjudged it and saw the ball roll through his legs over the goal line. The joy was no less with Dervisoglu and his teammates.

Galatasaray was able to cheer again after an hour of play after an excellent action by Olimpiu Vasile Morutan. He was brought in on the right by Alexandru Cicaldau, then cut out three opponents and hit the short corner. In the final phase, the victory was no longer in danger and Terim’s team wins for the first time in the competition since August 23, when Hatayspor was beaten by the same numbers. With the win, Galatasaray comes to eleven points, good for tenth place in the ranking.