Galatasaray beat Liverpool 1-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday evening and deserved their three points. The match had been hugely anticipated in Turkey and the victory is taken as a national source of pride.
Cimbom have a genuinely good team with multiple players who could get a place at the Premier League’s top clubs. They’ve heavily invested in transfers and have been able to use Turkish tax laws to their advantage. To put it simply, players have more take-home income even if on the same salary in Turkey compared to most other countries.
Following their 5-1 battering away to Eintracht Frankfurt in their first Champions League group match, Galatasaray needed to perform. And they did so against Liverpool, with Barış Alper Yılmaz winning a penalty which Victor Osimhen converted.
The atmosphere ahead of and during the match was superb. In the run up to kick off, Liverpool fans showed their colours on the Bosphorus. They even sailed passed Galatasaray Islet, which is an island owned by the club and only open to members.
At the stadium it was all about the home supporters. After the match, İlkay Gündoğan said a Liverpool had come up to him during play to remark on the atmosphere.
Speaking to UK TV, Gündoğan said: “One of my opponents came up to me during the game to ask if the atmosphere is always incredible like that.”
The midfielder didn’t name the Liverpool player, but the Turkish media have been on the case. Multiple Turkish sources, including Ajansspor and TgrtHaber, report the man in question is none other than Mohamed Salah.
