The Lion's Süper Lig winning streak continues

Galatasaray maintained their winning streak and remain top of the Süper Lig after beating Akhisar Belediyespor three nil.

Burak Yilmaz put the home side in front from tapping in from close range; he set up the second goal from making a darting run and passing to Sercan Yıldırım who converted from a few yards to make it two nil.

In the second half Hamit Altintop set up Yilmaz, the Akhisar keeper came out to prevent Altintop from scoring, Altintop quickly passed the ball over to Yilmaz on the left and scored his second goal of the match.

Manager Fatih Terim will be pleased with how his team played especially their overall work ethic in the game.

Galatasaray will travel to Ordu on the 29th to face Orduspor who are currently fourth in the Süper Lig table.

GALATASARAY: Muslera, Eboue,  (Amrabat 77th minute), Cris, Dany, Riera, Hamit Altıntop, Selçuk İnan, Melo, Emre Çolak  (Yekta Kurtuluş 68th minute), Sercan Yıldırım, (Aydın Yılmaz 72nd minute), Burak Yılmaz.

The Lions defeated at the Theatre of Dreams

The Lions of Istanbul lost by one goal to nil against the Premier League giants, however Galatasaray fought hard and at times made it very difficult for the Mancunian side.

One player for the Lions that deserves a lot of praise is Cameroonian defender Dany who was selected over new signing Cris. He made some vital tackles in the game as well as making some outstanding interceptions which kept Van Persie out at bay.

Despite the early goal and poor defending by Galatasaray in the early minutes of the game, the defense looked better than in previous games, Eboue was a key asset in the game making a few decent runs on the right wing.

In the first half Galatasaray were very unlucky, by the second half United were awarded a penalty, luckily for the Lions Muslera made a great save to deny the Red Devils another goal.

The Istanbul club had their chances to score with great efforts from Yilmaz and Çolak as well as a penalty decision turned down. It just seemed that things were not going right for Galatasaray. 

The Lions gave a good performance at Old Trafford and the game can definitely be a learning curve for when they play Braga at home on the 2nd of October.

Overall Fatih Terim will be pleased with his players performance, especially for a team to go to Old trafford and have a high percentage of possession against United.

GALATASARAY: Muslera, Eboue, Semih, Dany, Hakan, Hamit, Selçuk, Melo, ( Aydın 79th minute), Amrabat ,( Emre 63rd minute), Burak, Umut ( Elmander 16th minute)

Red Devils vs. The Lions of Istanbul

Tonight United host their first Champions League game of the new season against Galatasaray. It has been seventeen years since the last time the two clubs met each other in this competition.

Fatih Terim has gone for a 4-4-2 formation, Brazilian player Cris will continue to replace Tomas Ujfalusi and will remain a key asset to the Lions from having a lot of Champions League experience with Ligue 1 side Lyon.

As mentioned before in previous posts, so far this season in the Süper Lig, the Lions defense hasn't been up to scratch compared with last season. This is something that the team can't afford to slip up and make defensive errors in this competiton, especially in tonight's game. 

From watching Galatasaray so far this season, the nucleus of the team seems to be the Melo and Inan partnership who dominate and play well in the middle of the park. 

Inan's presence in the team is key in the competition, especially when it comes to set pieces, whilst Melo is known for his accurate passing.

United are of course the bookies favourites to win this one, especially with the likes of Van Persie, Kagawa, Nani, etc. However, no matter what club Fatih Terim has managed, he has been known to cause an upset. 

Most likely line up:


Muslera, Eboue, Cris ,Kaya, Balta, Altintop, Melo, Inan, Colak, Elmander, Bulut

The Lions taste victory on the coast

Galatasaray travelled to the Mediterranean coast to face Medical Park Antalyaspor last Saturday in the fourth week of the Süper Lig.

Swedish international Johan Elmander gave the visitors an early lead through Ambarat's well delivered thrown in. 

After creating Elmander's early goal, Nordin Amrabat made a breaking run and skillfully dribbled around the Antalyaspor defense and scored from close range to make it two nil to the Lions.

In the 54th minute, former Antalyaspor player Burak Yılmaz scored from a freekick that even Ronaldo himself would have been proud of. Struck with sheer venom, the ball hit the left side of the post and went in leaving Antalyaspor keeper Sammy N'Djock in dispair. 

With a few minutes left of the game, Galatasaray made it four nil. Keeper Sammy N'Djock came charging out to prevent Yılmaz from scoring, the ball was lose and Ambarat attempted to shoot on goal before being tackled by an Antalyaspor defender; it was left to Bulut to score from close range and yet again by being in the right place and the right time. The Turkish international has scored in every Süper Lig game so far, making it his eighth consecutive goal for the Lions. 

Galatasaray will be in Manchester on Wednesday for their Champions League Group match against Premier League giants Manchester United.

Four days later they will play against Akhisar Belediyespor at the Türk Telekom Arena in week 5 of the Süper Lig. 


GALATASARAY: Muslera, Eboue, Semih, Cris, Hakan (Çağlar 70th minute), Amrabat, Selçuk, Melo, Aydın (Yekta 68th minute), Elmander (Burak 49th minute), Umut.

 

Twenty first anniversary of the death of Metin Oktay

Fans have been paying their tributes to the late Metin Oktay who sadly lost his life in a car incident in 1991.

The 'Uncrowned King' (Taçsız Kral) as he was known to supporters was one of the greatest ever goalscorers in Turkish football history.

He started his career at Damlacık in the early 1950's and a season later moved to another amateur side, Yün Mensucat. Oktay moved clubs again, this time to İzmirspor, in his first season with the İzmir club he scored seventeen goals and was top goalscorer.

At nineteen years old, Galatasaray were interested in signing Oktay, in his first season he became an instant fan favourite and yet again by the end of the season was the top goal scorer with nineteen goals.

The Lions won the title that year and Oktay sustained his top goalscoring record for four consecutive seasons; by 1960 he had signed a record breaking contract with Galatasaray, however this did effect his marriage and later divorced his wife who wanted him to sign for his previous club İzmirspor. In the same year and a year that Galatasaray fans will never forget, Oktay scored four goals past Fenerbahçe, beating their bitter rivals 5-0 on the day. He was the first ever footballer in Turkey to have a film based on his life, he even starred as himself in the film.

Oktay wore the famous yellow and red shirt until 1969, in between his Galatasaray career he did play for Sicilian side Palermo for one season during the 1961-1962 season. The Uncrowned King scored a record of two hundred and seventeen goals in total and was crowned top goalscorer on six occasions.

He was known for scoring in the Istanbul derby also, on one occasion he struck the ball so hard it made a hole in the Fenerbahçe net. This unforgettable goal was one of the eighteen goals that Oktay put past the Sari Kanaryalar.

The Uncrowned King had thirty six caps with the national team and scored nineteen goals. Oktay retired in 1969 from breaking almost every record in Turkish football.

Today, he is remembered as a legend and fans like every other year visit his grave at the Kozlu cemetery.

The Lions taste success against the Green Crocodiles

The lions are now top of the Süper Lig after beating Bursaspor 3-2 at the Türk Telekom Arena.

Czech defender Tomas Ujfalusi was replaced by Cameroon international Dany Nounkeu, who looks like he needs more time to settle into the Galatasaray starting eleven. 

Former Arsenal player Eboue worked extremely hard on the right hand side and made some decent chances. 

In the centre, Melo and Inan gelled well together and Selçuk's corner kick led to the first goal in the early twenty minutes of the game. 

Bulut was in the right place at the right time and converted Selçuk's cross to make it one nil to the Lions.

The Green Crocodiles equalised in the early minutes of the second half, Musa Çağıran heading the ball into the back of the net from a free kick that was taken just outside of the box. 

Twenty minutes later, Çağıran went from hero to villain after he unfortunately put the ball into the back of his own net.

Galatasaray sealed their victory in the eightieth minute, thanks to Burak Yilmaz shot that left English keeper Scott Carson standing.

Ömer Erdoğan  scored Bursaspor's second goal five minutes later; the Galatasaray defense still looks shaky and as previously mentioned in the Beşiktaş post, this is something they need to work on. Signing Brazilian defender Cris is definitely a positive for the Lions as he will bring more experience into the side. 

In week four of the Süper Lig, Galatasaray travel to Antalya to play Antalyaspor.

Galatasaray: Muslera, Eboue, Semih, Dani, Hakan Balta, Hamit, Selçuk, Melo, Emre Çolak,  (Amrabat 61 mins), Elmander ( Burak 56 mins), Umut,  (Aydın 76 mins)

 Bursaspor: Carson, Basser, Ömer, İbrahim, Hakan, Sestak ( Beluschi 61 mins), Ndiaye, ( Bangura 78 mins) , Batalla, Musa,  (Murat 83 mins), Vederson, Pinto

Cris signs for Galatasaray

Cristiano Marques Gomes or Cris as he is commonly known as has joined the Lions from Ligue 1 side Olymique Lyon for €1.25 million.

His contract is is worth €1.25 milliona season with a €10,000 per-match bonus included. His deal will be extended for another season depending on if the Brazilian plays over twenty five matches.

The Former Cruzeiro and Lyon defender has been brought in to replace Czech defender Tomas Ujfalusi who has been ruled out with an injury for four of five months.

Cris spent eight consective years at Olympique Lyon, whom he joined from Bayer Leverkusen in 2003, winning four Ligue 1 titles and two French Cups.

He has been capped by Brazil on eighteen occasions, however he has never represented the Seleção in a World Cup. 

Galatasaray vs Bursaspor preview

Galatasaray will be looking to get back to winning ways after drawing 3-3 in last week's Istanbul derby clash with Beşiktaş. 

As previously mentioned in the last post, Czech defender Tomas Ujfalusi will be out of the squad for about four or five months; Ujfalusi suffered an injury during a training match against the A2 team.

He is a massive asset to the Lions back four, last season he played a crucial role of helping Galatasaray sustain one of the best defensive records in the Süper Lig. 

Their opponents have had a bad week losing to Dutch Eredvisie side FC Twente 3-1, visiting Istanbul and playing Galatasaray will not be easy for the Green Crocodiles. 

Most likely Line up:

Muslera, Eboue, Dany, Semih, Hakan Balta, Melo, Selçuk, Emre, Hamit, Burak, Umut