It ended badly Shoulder strike in Istanbul. The tactical work of, jokingly named in The Gazzetta dello Sport, crashed against the hard evidence of the events this Tuesday in the first leg of the playoff of the Champions League. No matter how much the great Italian coach shakes up the squad and reorganizes the field, today Juventus does not have better players than Galatasaray. The Turkish team conceded 1-1 and 1-2, but ended up coming back to win 5-2 in the course of a match in which the energy of Osimhen, the executive presence of Gabriel Sara, and the percussion of , weighed more than the witticisms of Yildiz.
5
Ugurcan Çakir, Abdülkerim Bardakci (Wilfried Singo, min. 76), Davinson Sánchez, Ismail Jakobs (Eren Elmali, min. 82), Roland Sallai, Noa Lang (Sacha Boey, min. 82), Baris Alper Yilmaz (Mauro Icardi, min. Gabriel Sara, Yunus Akgün (Leroy Sané, min. 69), Lucas Torreira and Victor Osimhen
2
Michele Di Gregorio, Pierre Kalulu, Lloyd Kelly, Bremer (Federico Gatti, min. 33), Andrea Cambiaso (Juan Cabal, min. 45), Teun Koopmeiners, Manuel Locatelli, Khéphren Thuram (Fabio Miretti, min. 79), Weston McKennie, Francisco Conceição (Filip Kostic, min. 69) and Kenan Yildiz (Loïs Openda, min. 80)
Goals
1-0 min. 14: Gabriel Sarah. 1-1 min. 15: Hold Koopmeiners. 1-2 min. 31: Teun Koopmeiners. 2-2 min. 48: Noah Lang. 3-2 min. 59: Davinson Sanchez. 4-2 min. 74: Noah Lang. 5-2 min. Episode 85: True Boys
Referee Danny Makkelie
yellow cards
Andrea Cambiaso (min. 17), Spalletti (min. 36), Abdulkerim Bardakci (min. 42), Juan Cabal (min. 58)
red cards
Juan Cabal (min. 66)
The field seemed endless for Juventus, unable to chain passes that would transport the ball fluidly to their attackers. Chico Conceiçao remained inactive in his corner waiting for McKennie and Yildiz to invent a play in the tangle of their own field. The visiting team remained tied in their field for long minutes, overwhelmed by Galatasaray’s pressure. Locatelli could not get out of the maze and every time the ball passed to the Turkish team the succession of passes was dizzying and almost always ended in the same demon: Baris Yilmaz.
A winger on the right and at times a playmaker, Yilmaz made controls and overflows a super-production dynamic. First he unhinged Cambiaso. When the Italian full-back was substituted, he saw to it that Cabal was sent off. Along the way, Gabriel Sara scored the first goal, from outside the area, and began to leave his mark on the game. The midfielder who cut his teeth at Sao Paulo and then emigrated to the English Championship is now the man who drives this Galatasaray. The team benefits from Turkish tax and financial policy. Tax rules allow footballers to collect fabulous contracts because the clubs pay less to the Treasury. So much so that Ilkay Gündogan and Leroy Sané, European stars in their own right, began watching the rout on the bench.
The efforts of McKennie and Koopmeiners in the plays that led to Juve’s two goals were temporary flashes. Normally it was Sara who had the helm of the game. Yildiz faced the dictation of the midfielder without stopping and Osimhen did not stop harassing the center backs, especially Kelly, while Yilmaz multiplied behind him. After the break, a shot by Yilmaz ended up in Lang, who caught the goalkeeper’s rebound and sent the ball into the net.
Ten minutes passed and Yilmaz slipped away before Cabal. Control and turn. It seemed easy. The lack also seemed inevitable. Sara played it so well that the slightest touch from Davinson Sánchez deflected it into a goal. Juventus defended poorly, getting worse and worse on the field and more shaky in their area. With Locatelli covered, Kephren Thuram took excessive risks. Sané cornered him and the youngest of the Thuram saga couldn’t think of a better way out than to give it to Kelly in the chicha area, where Osimhen lived.
“Too many back passes”
The Nigerian’s steal and Lang’s goal were a single movement. The 4-2 score revealed Juve completely drowned. After the expulsion, Boey, against a man less, put Galatasaray on top of an unlikely but not so unusual score. Juve has never won on the Turkish team’s field.
“We broke on the level of personality and character,” Spalletti lamented. “We made too many back passes.”
Carlo Ancelotti should take note. Brazil does not have too many midfielders. For personality, that of Gabriel Sara, director of Galatasaray’s pressure against a Juventus that was scared and condemned.
In the rest of the matches on the first day of playoffsDortmund beat Atalanta at the Westfalenstadion (2-0) and PSG came back from 2-0 down against Monaco after wasting a penalty. Luis Enrique’s team even overcame Dembélé’s injury in the first half to finish 2-4.
