Galatasaray comes out on top against the Green Greeks, Panathinaikos 1-3 Galatasaray

By: Musab | September 17th, 2009

I predicted that we would struggle a bit against Panathinaikos after our 3-0 victory against Besiktas and especially after the loss of both Gokhan Zan and Servet Cetin to injury. However it seems that I under estimated the goal machine that is Galatasaray. We thoroughly outplayed them with great performances across the field. After a huge defensive blunder on the Greek side, Elano was able to slot home our first goal before Milan Baros made it two and Elanos free kick was terribly directed into the net by a Panathinaikos defender. All in all, a good game for the CimBom.

PANATHİNAİKOS-GALATASARAY: 1-3
Venue: Athens OAKA Stadium
Referees: Paolo Tagliavento, Luca Maggiani, Elenito Di Liberatore (Italy)

PANATHİNAİKOS: Galinovic, Sarriegi, Leto, Salpingidis, Gilberto Silva, Hristodoulopoulos (min. 50 Petropoulos), Bjarsmyr, Marinos, Karagounis, Katsouranis (min. 50 Ninis), Spropoulos
Head Coach: Henk Tenk Cake

GALATASARAY: Leo Franco, Sabri, Emre Aşık, Emre Güngör (min. 23 Uğur Uçar), Hakan, Mustafa Sarp, Mehmet Topal, Keita (min. 72 Barış), Elano (min. 61 Arda), Kewell, Baros
Head Coach: Frank Rijkaard

Goals: min. 5-min. 56 Elano, min. 47 Baros, min. 77 Salpingidis

Yellow Cards: min. 19 Sarriegi, min. 44 Leo Franco, min. 56 Spropoulos; min. 69 Emre Aşık, min. 87 Uğur Uçar

Overall I was pleased with the performance Galatasaray put out. The defense was very effective given the injuries the have befallen it. Despite the consolation goal Panathinaikos won, we saw good, effective performances by Emre Asik and Hakan Balta. Keita once again showed his class as he danced around the Panathinaikos players with the ball ans was a threat to their defender throughout the game.

Milan Baros seems to get his goal scoring boots in place as he continues scoring in the games he plays in, in the League, Europe, and for his country. Let’s hope for more goals in the future. It was interesting to see young Arda sit on the bench for this game especially as he started to show signs of fatigue. Elano took his place in the starting 11 and responded with two goals in an equally good performance from the Brazilian playmaker.

This was probably our most challenging game and after coming through with a victory, its fair to say our chances of getting past the group stages are pretty high. Lets hope we can keep the momentum going this weekend as we travel to lowly Kasimpasa. Expect some serious squad rotation.

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