Galatasaray barely managed to beat Caykur Rizespor thanks to two goals from Patrick van Aanholt and a goal from Ryan Babel. The low flyer took the lead twice in the Nef Stadium, but eventually left the field with a 4-2 defeat. With the second win in a row, Galatasaray rises to twelfth place in the Süper Lig.
Galatasaray won again last Monday for the first time since December 25, by winning 2-3 on a visit to Göztepe. Against Caykur Rizespor – the number penultimate of the Süper Lig – the team of trainer Domenèc Torrent did not have a very good start, because the visitors were already ahead after eight minutes. Gedson Fernandes curled a free kick from the left corner beautifully into the far corner.
Fernandes played last season on a rental basis at Galatasaray, for whom he played a total of eighteen games. The midfielder then returned to Benfica, played little there and was taken over by Besiktas in January. The Black Eagles However, they were unable to register him, which means that he is stationed at Caykur Rizespor in the second half of the season. It took until shortly before halftime before Galatasaray could level up again.
Berkan Kutlu prepared the ball for Van Aanholt, who scored his first league goal for Galatasaray with a slider in the far corner. Soon after rest had to Cimbom chasing again. Joel Pohjanpalo headed the ball back towards Tyler Boyd, then the American controlled and placed the ball in the right corner brilliantly. Exactly ten minutes later, Galatasaray had a chance to get back into the game when Bafetimbi Gomis was knocked over by goalkeeper Tarik Çetin and the ball hit the spot. Gomis himself went behind the ball, but failed from eleven meters.
Just under ten minutes later, Galatasaray got a second chance after another foul by Çetin inside the penalty area, this time off Kerem Aktürkoglu. Now the fallen Babel was allowed to dock and he did not fail: 2-2. Just like Van Aanholt, Babel signed for his first league goal of the season. Van Aanholt immediately made his second league goal of the season in minute 87 and gave Galatasaray the victory. The fullback was the end of a smooth attack via Aktürkoglu, Kutlu and Sofiane Feghouli. Caykur Rizespor ended the game with ten men, after a second yellow card for Fabrício Baiano, and had to concede the 4-2 in the eighth minute, which was recorded by Gomis.
| No. | Team | m | W | G | V | † | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trabzonspor | 27 | 20 | 6 | 1 | 31 | 66 |
| 2 | Konyaspori | 27 | 14 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 49 |
| 3 | Medipol Basaksehir | 27 | 14 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 46 |
| 4 | Adana Demirspor | 27 | 12 | 9 | 6 | 15 | 45 |
| 5 | Besiktas | 27 | 12 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 44 |
| 6 | Fenerbahce | 26 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 43 |
| 7 | Alanyaspor | 27 | 12 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 43 |
| 8 | Hatayspor | 27 | 13 | 3 | 11 | -1 | 42 |
| 9 | Fatih Karagumrük | 27 | 11 | 6 | 10 | -7 | 39 |
| 10 | Kayserispor | 27 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 38 |
| 11 | Gaziantep FC | 27 | 10 | 6 | 11 | -3 | 36 |
| 12 | Galatasaray | 27 | 9 | 8 | 10 | -2 | 35 |
| 13 | Sivasspor | 27 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 1 | 34 |
| 14 | Antalyaspor | 27 | 8 | 8 | 11 | -7 | 32 |
| 15 | Kasımpasa | 26 | 7 | 8 | 11 | -2 | 29 |
| 16 | Giresunspor | 27 | 8 | 5 | 14 | -4 | 29 |
| 17 | goztepe | 27 | 7 | 6 | 14 | -9 | 27 |
| 18 | Altay | 27 | 7 | 4 | 16 | -12 | 25 |
| 19 | Rizespor | 27 | 6 | 5 | 16 | -24 | 23 |
| 20 | Yeni Malatyaspor | 27 | 4 | 5 | 18 | -26 | 17 |