Sunday, October 31, 2021 at 6:57 PM• Dominic Mostert

Galatasaray turned the home game against Gazisehir Gaziantep in the Süper Lig into a victory. The team of Fatih Terim won 2-0 on Sunday evening and therefore takes sixth place, with twenty points from eleven games. In points, Galatasaray is equal with number four Besiktas; Leader Trabzonspor is seven points away. Olimpiu Morutan and Kerem Aktürkoglu scored the goals for Galatasaray.

Galatasaray, with Patrick van Aanholt and Halil Dervisoglu in the base and with both Ryan Babel and Ömer Bayram on the bench, was initially unable to break any pots in the first half. Aktürkoglu shot high over from the edge of the penalty area, after which Alexandru Cicaldau did not fire from an even closer distance either. Dervisoglu pulled in from the right flank four minutes before half-time and shot just over. The first half seemed to end without goals, but in the third minute of stoppage time Galatasaray opened the score.

After a corner from Patrick van Aanholt, Gaziantep couldn’t get the ball away. In the end, the leather came at the feet of Morutan, whose beautiful, placed bet in the far corner proved untenable for keeper Günay Güvenc. In that phase, the last ten minutes before half time, Gaziantep also crawled out of the shell. The visitors’ attempts for goal were not convincing. Halfway through the second half, Nouha Dicko created a great opportunity, but to the relief of the home crowd, goalkeeper Fernando Muslera turned his bet.

Furthermore, there was little serious goal danger from either side in the second half. Galatasaray held on to the lead without many problems and finally took the game seventeen minutes before the end. Sofiane Feghouli beat Gaziantep’s defense with a splitting through ball. He launched Aktürkoglu, who appeared in front of Güvenc’s goal and fired a contrarian hit into the left corner. Three minutes before the end, Van Aanholt was replaced by the Dutch-Turkish Bayram, while Babel remained on the bench for ninety minutes.