Tottenham Hotspur saw their perfect start to the Europa League go up in smoke on Thursday in a difficult trip to Istanbul to cace Turkish champions Galatasaray.
This is a high-powered Galatasaray who became the first in Super Lig history to break the 100-point barrier last season – Victor Osimhen has also joined the ranks since then. They are among the contenders to win the Europa League this season, which would make them only the second Turkish side to lift a continental trophy after their previous history-making moment in 2000.
Spurs had beaten Qarabag, Ferencvaros and AZ on the first three matchdays, but Ange Postecoglou’s team were no match in the first half. Yunus Akgun spectacularly opened the scoring within a few minutes of kick-off and, despite Will Lankshear pulling one back relatively soon after, Osimhen decisively netted twice in quick succession towards the end of the half.
Lankshear was later sent off on a bittersweet night for the teenager, punished for a naively reckless challenge after being dispossessed and trying to win the ball. And while Dominic Solanke did go on to reduce the deficit to 3-2, Spurs couldn’t find a way to get back on level terms with a player less.
Galatasaray also had the ball in the net a fourth time through Mauro Icardi, only to see it ruled offisde.
It wasn’t really the night for good Spurs performances. Lankshear was on course for rave reviews until his dismissal, while Solanke did well to come off the bench and score. But one player who changed things when he emerged at half-time was Rodrigo Bentancur.
The Uruguayan gave Spurs a footing that they had been lacking in the first half, helping to calm things down, stemming the flow of Galatasaray danger and ultimately ensuring that, instead of collapsing with ten players, they remained competitive and in the game until the end.
Spurs centre-back Radu Dragusin was given the run around, plain and simple. His passing was sub-par and he lost nearly as many duels as he won during the course of the game.
He wasn’t solely responsible for the goals that Osimhen scored, played into a less than ideal situation by Ben Davies for the first of the Nigerian’s brace. But Dragusin lacked the awareness of what was around him and perhaps ought to have seen that the open pass was back to Fraser Forster instead of trying to turn and critically lose the ball. For Osimhen’s second, movement between the two Spurs centre-backs was enough to get the space needed to head in unchecked.
