Galatasaray gets another big win, continues its spell on top

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

Galatasaray players celebrate their second goal against Trabzonspor, scored by Selçuk İnan (C). The classy Turkish playmaker remained focused despite the reaction from fans of Trabzonspor, his former team. AA photo

Galatasaray beat Trabzonspor 3-0 on Dec. 11 to claim its second big Spor Toto Super League victory in only four days.

Johan Elmander opened the scoring, while former Trabzonspor boys Selçuk İnan and Ceyhun Gülselam were also on the score sheet as Galatasaray extended its lead.

The Lions rose to the top following a 3-1 win over Fenerbahçe on Dec. 7, when they ended their three-and-a-half-year winning drought over their archrivals.

The Istanbul team was as stingy as it was in midweek and gave a severe blow to Trabzonspor, who was trying to recover from a disappointing knockout from the Champions League.

Galatasaray leads the league with 31 points, three over archrivals Beşiktaş and Fenerbahçe, who has a game in hand. Fenerbahçe was visiting Bursaspor in the final match of round 15 yesterday.

The Lions coach Fatih Terim underlined the importance of the victory in such a small space of time.

“That win was good for us,” Terim said during the post-match press conference. “And it is even sweeter getting three points following the Fenerbahçe match, because this win justified the Fenerbahçe victory.”

For Trabzonspor, it was a big disappointment, since the Black Sea Storm fell to eighth spot with a 10-point difference behind the leader. Trabzonspor will tomorrow play against Gençlerbirliği to complete its fixtures. The game was postponed due to a clash with Champions League fixtures. Coach Şenol Güneş rued his team’s congested fixtures.

“We have to be more powerful out there, physically,” he said. “We lost three times when we returned after the Champions League. We have to say we paid a heavy price for playing in the Champions League. It was hard to cope with both competitions. There were long trips and there were times we arrived in Istanbul in early hours of the morning. This is how our season is.”

Elmander opened the scoring in the fifth minute for Galatasaray and Selçuk, who was being taunted by his former supporters each time he got the ball, scored a beautiful goal from a free kick in the 44th minute. Another former Trabzonspor player, Ceyhun got the ball in the left side of the box and executed a well-placed finish in the last minute of the match.

Earlier in the day, Beşiktaş was held to a 1-1 draw against Istanbul BB.

Istanbul BB is fifth, followed by Mersin İdman Yurdu and Manisaspor, who are all on 23 points.
Mersin İdman Yurdu beat Samunspor 1-0, Gençlerbirliği outclassed Orduspor 3-1 and Antalyaspor defeated bottom-team Ankaragücü 1-0 also on Dec. 11.