Sunday, March 7, 2021 at 7:06 PM• Daniel Cabot Kerkdijk • Last update: 19:12

Galatasaraty has again lost expensive points in the Süper Lig. Four days after the surprising 2-1 defeat at low flyer Ankaragücü, the team of trainer Fatih Terim did not get further than a draw in-house against mid-engine Sivasspor: 2-2. That means that as the leader of the Turkish league, Besiktas has two points more and one game less than CimBom. Fenerbahçe has five points less than the list leader, in the same number of duels, and will play at Konyaspor on Monday.

Galatasaray’s beginnings were downright bad. After a header duel between Ryan Donk and Mustafa Yatabare, Martin Linnes played the ball back to goalkeeper Fernando Muslera, but he had overlooked Max Gradel. The attentive attacker scored from close range: 0-1. Sivasspor’s lead was only four minutes. Radamel Falcao received the ball from Ryan Babel, cut out his opponent and shot the ball in the right corner behind goalkeeper Ali Sasal Vural: 1-1. It was for the attacker, who had to miss many duels this season due to injuries, his first goal since October 24 last year.

Sivasspor still went into halftime with a lead. Eight minutes before the break, the defense of Galatasaray did not look very good after a throw-in from the right and Muslera could barely turn a hard shot from Gradel with one hand. In the rebound, Tyler Boyd made his first of the season from close range, despite a frantic attempt by both Linnes and Donk to get the ball out of the goal mouth: 1-2.

A foul by Ziya Erdal on Babel, who got the studs of the captain of Sivasspor in the back, was in Galatasaray’s view worth a red card, but Ali Sansalan kept the cards in his pocket. Just under ten minutes later, Galatasaray was 2-2: after an action by Babel in the penalty area, Ugur Çiftçi got the ball lightly against his hand and after consultation with the VAR, the home team was allowed to build from eleven meters. Falcao sent Ali Sasal Vural into the wrong corner: 2-2. That was also the final score. Babel was replaced after 73 minutes by Sofiane Feghouli; Donk made way for Christian Luyindama five minutes after the break. Galatasaray will play the next league game on Saturday at Kayserispor.