At times there was a difference in class: Manchester City stormed past Galatasaray Istanbul with a 2-0 (2-0) win and moved straight into the round of 16 of the Champions League. Gala goes to the playoffs.
The goals for the hosts, who were always superior, were scored by Erling Haaland (10th) and Rayan Cherki (28th). This means that the English, who missed a number of other opportunities, placed themselves in eighth place in the table and are directly in the round of 16. But Galatasaray is also still there: The Turks are in 20th place and are therefore in the playoffs.
Gala fans create a great atmosphere
Before the match even kicked off, the Galatasaray fans had the headlines for themselves. “Manchester’s city center paralyzed,” reported English news portals as the away fans – accompanied by pyrotechnics – made their way to the stadium in their hundreds.
But when the game kicked off, the hosts took command. Less than three minutes had been played when Nico O’Reilly, coming from the left rail, crossed smoothly onto the head of Haaland, who was running along. But the Norwegian managed the feat of placing the ball completely free-standing from eight meters next to the box.
Haaland strikes at the second chance
Pep Guardiola on the sidelines looked as if he couldn’t believe it. Neither did Haaland, who was recently affected by a slight goal drought. But he stuck with it. And was rewarded a little later. Jeremy Doku played a wonderful deep through ball from the center circle – ideal for the starting Haaland. And this time the striker stayed cool and easily lifted the ball over Gala keeper Ugurcan Cakir into the net to make it 1-0 (10th).
And Galatasaray? Was almost invisible on offense in the early stages. Ilkay Gündogan, who admitted before the game that he was traveling to his old employer with a rather uneasy feeling, tried to develop culture in the center, but was almost crushed by the superior City midfield.
Gala – only great in the stands
The visiting block of Turkish fans gave a lot of steam in the stands and almost had the upper hand in terms of volume. On the pitch, however, the Gala players were still hopelessly inferior. In the 24th minute, O’Reilly was not attacked in midfield, was able to go and force guest keeper Cakir to do a brilliant deed with a hammer from a good 22 meters.
Galatasaray’s Ilkay Gündogan hardly had any action
A little later, the famous Cakir was also powerless. This time, Doku, who was almost unstoppable, let two opponents get out on the left wing and laid an exemplary pass for Cherki, who was able to take the corner from eleven meters away from the goal. He coolly shot in the bottom left corner to make it 2-0 (28th).
Sané can hardly be seen
Doku, who had been outstanding until then, had to leave the field a little later because the 23-year-old Belgian was injured. Phil Foden came in for him – probably the one who has such a bench. Leroy Sané wasn’t sitting on it. He played for Galatasaray – but he was hardly visible. The German international preferred to stay out of the City attack and hardly played a role on the right wing.
Luckily for the visiting team, City took it easy in the second half. What seemed to particularly inspire the third German in the Gala team: Ex-Cologne player Ismael Jakobs put at least a little pressure on the left wing – and brought center forward Victor Osimhen into position in the 64th minute. The Nigerian failed with his direct pass to City keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Gündogan ineffective – and out early
A little later, Gündogan left the pitch – the 35-year-old had hardly been able to leave any traces at his former place of work that evening. Both teams also recognized that this result was basically okay for both of them. The “Skyblues” had secured their ticket to the round of 16, while Galatasaray were in a secure playoff spot. And so it stayed 2-0.
