Ten men Tottenham Hotspur could not withstand the ferocious attacking side of Galatasaray.
At the Rams Park in Turkey, Istanbul, Tottenham were the visitors to Galatasaray in the forth round of the UEFA Europa League (UEL) group stage game which took place on Thursday night, November 7, 2024.
The English premier league club, Tottenham Hotspur prior to this game had manage to brushed aside AZ-Alkamaar in their last outing by just a goal at their home ground as against Galatasaray who also secured all three points by 4:3 over Elfsborg.
Further, Both team heading into their forth batch of the qualifying group game were in high hopes of clutching all the three maximum points at the end of the match.
Right at the inception of the game clearly indicated the intentions of both teams, who are of much equilibrium with regards to the quality of players both sides were parading on the field of play hence, after six minute into the first half, an individual brilliance Akun gave an early lead to the home side.
After twelve minute, an equalizing goal by Lankshear through an amazing link up play by Brenan Johnson enabled him to hit a shot at goal which ended up in the back of the goal net.
The goal scoring threat by both teams was very much on top of their game on the night as the the Nigerian goal poacher, Victor Osimhen made good use of a chance created by his former teammate at Napoli SSC, Dris Mertens for him to slot it into the net to make it 2:1 for Galatasaray.
In the space of eight minutes since Osimhen scored, he did not squander the next opportunity orchestrated by Mertens for him to bag a brace on the night hence, providing Galatasaray a two goal cushion as they head into the half time break.
Second half was underway only for Ange, the manager of Tottenham Hotspur to initiate two changes in the 46th minute, bringing on Dejan Kulusevki for Son Heung-Min and subbing off Brenan Johnson for Bentancur.
Tottenham Hotspur in their haste to get back into the game began to resort to needless tackles which earned Kulesevki and Lankshear cautionary cards from the referee. Few minutes after Lankshear was cautioned, he fell foul again and that earned him the second yellow card in the game therefore, he was sent off and that was a big blow to his team.
A super sub, Dominic Solanke after being introduced into the game on the 66th minute, pulled one back after three minutes of him being on the pitch as he was gladly assisted by Pedro Porro through a cross which was not defended properly by Galatasaray’s defense.
Multiple subs were initiated by Galatasaray, shipping off Mertens, Akun, Osimhen, Icardi, and Gabriel Sara for Ziyech, Jelert, Demirbay, Batshuayi, and Kutlu. On the 96th minute of stoppage time plus some seconds, the Belgian center referee, Visser whistled for the end of the game.
Galatasaray who had all three points in the game currently is the third best team in the group table with four matches played, won three and drew one, aggregating ten points while Tottenham Hotspur lie on the seventh position with nine points out of possible twelve points, that is, winning three and loosing one.
