Osimhen Fires Two Assists as Galatasaray Hammer Juventus in Istanbul
Duro Ikhazuagbe
Victor Osimhen provided two assists as Galatasaray defeated Juventus 5-2 in Istanbul on Tuesday evening. The three-goal advantage going into the second leg of their UEFA Champions League knockout phase Playoff in Turin gives the Turkish champions the hope of reaching the Last 16 first time in 13 years.
Despite Osimhen not getting on the scorer’s sheet, he had a decent showing against the Old Lady who wanted to sign him before penning the deal with Galatasaray. His handicap was playing against the same Coach Luciano Spalletti who made him the superstar when they both won the Italian Scudetto in the 2022/2023 Italian Serie A season.
The hosts who trailed 2-1 at half-time produced a superb fightback to lead 3-2 by the hour mark through goals from Noa Lang and Davinson Sanchez.
That came after Juventus had launched an excellent response of their own to complete a 17-minute first-half turnaround, through Teun Koopmeiners’ double, after going behind to Gabriel Sara’s opener.
However, the second half went from bad to worse for the Serie A side.
Half-time substitute Juan Cabal received a second yellow card just 21 minutes after his introduction to leave Juventus a goal and a man down.
The Turkish champions were relentless in attempting to make their man advantage count.
Lang punished lax Juventus defending for his second on the night, before Sacha Boey benefitted from an Osimhen leg work to add a late fifth to put Okan Buruk’s side in firm control of the tie.
The return leg takes place in Turin on Wednesday, 25th February (20:00 GMT).
RESULTS
Galatasaray 5-2 Juventus
Benfica 0-1 R’Madrid
Dortmund 2-0 Atalanta
Monaco 2-3 PSG
TODAY
Qarabag v Newcastle
Bodo/Glimt v Inter
C’Brugge v Atlético
Olympiacos v Leverkusen
