United return to hell

The Champions League draw was drawn yesterday, the Lions of Istanbul will face Premiership giants Manchester United, Portuguese side Braga, and Cluj from Romania in Group H.

Dark images are still remembered by United who faced the Istanbul side in the 90's, scenes of riot police protecting Eric Cantona as the Frenchman got quite heated during the game and accused Galatasaray for time wasting. Phil Neville was seen walking in Istanbul airport with pieces of glass stuck to his blazer when their coach was bricked.

Those days of 'hell' that were known at the Ali Sami Yen stadium have died down since Galatasaray moved to the Turk Telecom Arena. One thing is for sure that going to the Turk Telecom Arena will still be an intimidating place for United to play at.

Sir Alex Ferguson mentioned that his side will always remember the 'Welcome to hell' banners and admits that playing Galatasaray is never easy.

Galatasaray must improve their defense if they stand a chance of doing well in the group stages, yesterday Czech defender Tomas Ujfalusi suffered a serious injury whilst training which has added another issue to the back four.

The Lions will meet United at Old Trafford on the 19th of September for the first group stage fixture, their other fixtures include:

Braga (H) Tuesday, 2 October 2012

Cluj (H)  Tuesday, 23 October 2012

Cluj (A)  Wednesday, 7 November 2012

Manchester United (H) Tuesday, 20 November 2012

Braga (A) Wednesday, 5 December 2012

The lion and eagle hunt ends in a draw

The first Istanbul derby of the new 2012/2013 season kicked off yesterday at Beşiktaş' BJK İnönü Stadium.

The home side took the lead early from a Felipe Melo own goal, the defensive midfielder heading the ball into the back of the Galatasaray net from a Manuel Fernandes freekick.

Galatasaray equalised in the 20th minute thanks to a powerful volley by Swedish striker Johan Elmander.

After equalising, Galatasaray started to up their game and started to dominate, however, this was short lived and the Black Eagles took the lead, Filip Hološko took advantage of Galatasaray's poor defending to make it 2-1 to the home side.

It took the Lions only two minutes two pull one back, new signing Umut Bulut scoring from close range.

Beşiktaş took control from the start of the second half, Manuel Fernandes dominating in midfield and causing havoc for the Lion's defense.

In the 51st minute of the game Hološko got his second goal, again poor defending by Galatasaray cost them dearly.

 Burak Yılmaz replaced Elmander and caused problems for Beşiktaş since coming on, he also won a penalty for the visitors, Selçuk Inan converted from the penalty spot to make things level.

Hopefully Galatasaray's defending will improve, it was quite surprising to see, since last season they one of the best defensive line ups in the Süper Lig.

 BEŞİKTAŞ: Cenk, Hilbert, Sivok, Escude, Uğur Boral, Fernandes, İbrahim Toraman, Olcay, Veli, Holosko, Mustafa (min. 55 Batuhan)

GALATASARAY: Muslera, Hakan Balta, Semih Kaya, Ujfalusi, Eboue, Emre Çolak, Hamit Altıntop (min. 59 Aydın), Selçuk İnan, Felipe Melo (min. 46 Amrabat), Elmander (min. 65 Burak), Umut