The Lions spirits lifted in Kayseri

In week twenty six of the Turkish Süper Lig, Galatasaray extended their league at the top by beating Kayserispor 3-1 at the Kadir Has Stadium. Winning away in Kayseri boosted the team's spirits after drawing away with Eskişehirspor and losing to Ankara side Gençlerbirliği 1-0 at home.

Wesley Sneijder scored his second goal for the Istanbul club in the third minute of the game, Drogba crossed in a long ball to Selçuk İnan who then nodded the ball to set up the Dutchman who beat Kayserispor keeper Ertuğrul Taşkıran to make it one nil to the visitors.

Twenty minutes later Galatasaray went ahead again, this time fan favourite Burak Yılmaz struck a low shot passed on loan Fenerbahçe keeper Ertuğrul Taşkıran. Burak got his second goal eighteen minutes later, Galatasaray played a nice passing game, Reira coming in from the left hand side and passing the ball to Sneijder who then played a quick ball to Felipe Melo, who then played a one-two with Sabri; his pass set up Burak, the Turkish international coolly slotted the ball past Taşkıran for the second consecutive time. 

Burak is currently the Süper Lig's top scorer, having sixteen goals to his name, an interesting stat shows that the former Tabzonspor player has scored sixty four times from his last seventy four appearances (Turkishfootball.com, @Turkish_Futbol).

The Lions could have made it four or five nil in the game with chances from Umut Bulut who narrowly put the ball wide and also failed to convert from close range.

The home side managed to get a consolation goal in the ninetieth minute, Brazilian midfielder Clayton setting up substitute Diego Biseswar who struck the ball into the bottom right hand corner of the goal.

José Mourinho aka 'The Special One' attended the game to watch his Champions League opponents who play each other on the 3rd of April at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid. Mourinho and Terim were pictured hugging one another before the game and wishing each other good luck in their quarter final Champions League encounter. 

Sneijder who scored in front of his former manager mentioned that it was great to see Mourinho again and the last time that he had seen the Portuguese manager was when his old club Inter Milan reached the Champions League final against Bayern Munich back in 2010. 

Galatasaray showed 'The Special One' that they are a force to be reckoned with especially upfront with in form striker Burak Yılmaz. The win in Kayseri puts the Lions on fifty points and they remain in first place in the Süper Lig. Istanbul rivals Fenerbahçe beat Antalya side Medical Park Antalyaspor 2-1, the Canaries are now on forty six points and remain second.Beşiktaş remain on forty three points as they lost 3-1 to Kasımpaşa.

In week twenty seven of the Turkish Süper Lig, Galatasaray face İstanbul BB at home, last time both clubs met, the Lions came out victorious by beating their city neighbours 3-1 back in early November.

GALATASARAY: Muslera, Eboue, Gökhan, Semih, Riera, Hamit (Sabri 22nd mins), Selçuk, Melo, Sneijder (Amrabat 60 mins), Drogba, Burak (Umut 68 mins)        

Keep calm and watch Galatasaray!

The Lions of Istanbul last night made it to the last eight of the Champions League by beating Bundesliga side Schalke 04 in Gelsenkirchen. 

Despite conceding in the eighteenth minute from Roman Neustädter close range effort, the Lions fought back when Gelsenkirchen born Hamit Altıntop venomously struck the ball from about thirty yards out. Burak made it 2-1 in the forty second minute of the game by lobbing Schalke keeper Timo Hildebrand.

The Turkish international has now scored eight goals in the competition and has been a real asset to the team not only in the Champions League but also in the Süper Lig, he cost the Lions five million euros from Trabzonspor and has proved to be the bargain of the season!

In the second half the home side dominated and equalised in the sixty third minute, Atsuto Uchida setting up former Lyon player Michel Bastos who slotted the ball from close range.

Schalke started to do what they did in the previous meeting and exploit the Lions on the wings causing all sorts of problems for the Istanbul side, Uruguayan keeper Fernando Muslera was a key asset for Galatasaray on the night by making some outstanding saves and denying the likes of Julian Draxler from scoring.

The remaining twenty or so minutes of the game were critical for the Lions, substitute Umut Bulut became the Lions' hero of the game when Selçuk played a lovely through ball to Bulut who then dribbled the ball past Hildebrand to give Galatasaray their place in the last eight of the competition.

This was a momentous night for the Istanbul club as it has taken them twelves years to reach the quarter finals of the Champions League.  After the game, Terim praised his players as well as the travelling fans and mentioned that the club are amongst the eight best teams on the continent and that all of Turkey should enjoy the success that the team has made in the competition. 

This was a perfect result that Galatasaray needed having lost last Friday to Gençlerbirliği at home and having dominated from start to finish having eighteen shots on target compared with their opponents who only had two shots on goal. This result in Gelsenkirchen will definitely give the Lions a further boost with regards to their domestic season, they face Kayserispor on Sunday at the Kadir Has Stadium.    

The Champions League draw will be made on Friday the 15th of March at the UEFA headquarters.

GALATASARAY: Muslera, Eboue, Semih (Zan 79 mins), Dany, Riera, Melo, Hamit, Sneijder (Amrabat 70 mins), Selçuk, Drogba, Burak 

The Wind of Ankara blows the Lions away

On Friday evening Galatasaray played Ankara side Gençlerbirliği at home and surprisingly lost the game one nil having dominated the game and having about eighteen shots on goal.

This week Terim again made some changes to the Lions' starting eleven, Emmanuel Eboué was back in his usual right back position, as Sabri had been playing at right back in recent weeks, the midfield had also been altered by the İmparator (The emperor as Terim is nicknamed in Turkey), Albert Reira played on the left and Yekta played in Felipe Melo's usual place in the centre of midfield.

In the first half the Istanbul side dominated and had countless efforts, from Hamit hitting the crossbar to Eboué's solo run effort; the Ivorian was very unlucky to score and played really well on the right hand side of the pitch from making darting runs and making countless through balls. He has definitely earned his place back in the starting eleven.

Minutes later, Riera found Burak in space and missed an open goal by miss timing the Spaniard's pass and ending up diving into the back of the Gençlerbirliği net. It was one of those days for Galatasaray where luck was not on their side.

In the second half things got worse for the home side when Gençlerbirliği went ahead, on loan Club Brugge stirker Björn Vleminckx headed the ball past Muslera in the sixtieth minute. The Belgium player was seen pushing Eboué in the box, the Ivorian stayed on the ground whilst Vleminckx headed the ball and scored. The other Lions' defenders froze when the incident occurred and just watched the ball sail into the back of the net, Selçuk was seen talking to referee Özgür Yankaya, however he maintained his decision to award the goal to the Ankara side.

Before Galatasaray conceded, Hamit again hit the post, recent stats show that he has hit the post on seven occasions this season (three in the Champions League and four in the Süper Lig). Again, the Lions made a few more chances on goal with quite a few sloppy efforts, their luck could of changed when referee Özgür Yankaya awarded the home side a penalty when Drogba blatantly dived in the area. The Ivorian stepped up to take the penalty and put his effort wide; it really wasn't Galatasaray's day and for some reason they seem to struggle on Friday evening matches.

The Lions felt like they had been robbed with having countless efforts on goal compared with their opponents who just had two efforts on goal. From what I remember in the previous week they had more chances compared with the Eskişehirspor match.

Terim will no doubt choose his strongest team for Tuesday night's clash against German side Schalke 04, who caused the Lions problems on the wings in the last game. Galatasaray have a good record from this season's Champions League games when it comes to playing away from home and will be hungry to progress further in the competition. Schalke have the advantage from having an away goal, Dutch international Klaas Jan Huntelaar will likely play as a lone striker on the day despite recent injury concerns.

Friday night's loss at the Türk Telekom Arena will be one result that Galatasaray will want to forget and focus more on their Champions League match on Tuesday.

Elsewhere in the Süper Lig, Fenerbahçe beat Bursaspor 4-1 and third place Beşiktaş drew with Trabzonspor 0-0 at the Hüseyin Avni Aker Stadium in Trabzon. Galatasaray despite losing one nil to Gençlerbirliği remain top. Bitter rivals Fenerbahçe are now only four points behind Galatasaray, the Canaries are on forty three points, Beşiktaş are also on forty three points making the Süper Lig at present very open with only nine games left of this season to go.

GALATASARAY: Muslera, Eboue,Kaya, Gökhan Zan, Riera, Hamit Altıntop (Drogba 65 mins), Yekta, Selçuk, Emre Çolak (Amrabat 57 mins), Sneijder (Umut Bulut 57 mins), Burak Yılmaz          

Goalless at the Eskişehir Atatürk Stadium

Yesterday Galatasaray played seventh placed side Eskişehirspor and drew 0-0 at the Eskişehir Atatürk Stadium.

 Gökhan Zan and Hakan Balta featured in the Lions' starting line up for the second consecutive week, Felipe Melo returned from his suspension after missing the past four Süper Lig matches due to allegedly spitting at Beşiktaş player Oğuzhan Özyakup. Both Fatih Terim and Hasan Şaş watched this game from the stands due to showing unsportsmanlike behaviour towards the referee in last week's game against Orduspor. 

In the first half the Lions' defense and Muslera were kept busy from preventing the Es-Es from scoring, the home side had many opportunities to go ahead, including a headed effort from former Galatasaray player Necati Ateş which was kept out by Muslera. 

The Es-Es kept on testing the Uruguayan keeper who kept on denying the home side from scoring time and time again. Galatasaray had a chance to go ahead in the first half when Sneijder delivered a curling freekick into the Eskişehirspor goalmouth, Burak got a head to it, however his effort went over. 

Just like in the Orduspor game Galatasaray were very poor in the first half, many were questioning if they could outshine their opponents in the second half like in last week's 4-2 win at home. However, this was not the case and the home side dominated again. Sabri could have put the Istanbul side ahead when Eskişehirspor keeper Ruud Boffin punched the ball directly to the Galatasaray skipper who rushed his shot and ended up blasting the ball and what could be described as a 'row z' effort.

Eskişehirspor gave the Lions a fright at the very end of the game when Rodrigo Tello crossed the ball into one of the Es-Es strikers who's effort hit the cross bar, minutes later the same thing happened with another Eskişehirspor player hitting the crossbar. The Lions were well and truly saved by the bar in the dying minutes of the game. 

The draw in Eskişehir keeps the Istanbul side in first place, they are seven points clear with forty seven points, Beşiktaş move into second place from beating bitter rivals Fenerbahçe 3-2 at the İnönü Stadium. The Black Eagles are now on forty two points, whilst the canaries are seven points behind Galatasaray.   

It was a disappointing performance and Eskişehirspor were unlucky not to win the game, Drogba admitted after the game that the team were lucky and hopes that the next few days are used wisely to analyse their performance. It looks like Terim will have to continue to test the water so to speak with his new signings, especially with the Champions League game against Schalke in a fortnight's time.

GALATASARAY:  Muslera, Sabri, Gökhan, Semih, Hakan, Amrabat (Reira 46 mins), Melo (A. Yılmaz 71 mins), Selçuk, Sneijder, Drogba, Burak