Galatasaray are up and running in the Champions League. Aleksey Batrakov scored twice in three first-half minutes as the Turkish champions beat Stuttgart 2-0 at Rams Park on Tuesday night, ending the German side's unbeaten start to the league phase in a game that had a touchline brawl, a disallowed goal and a string of Ugurcan Cakir saves.
Stuttgart arrived in Istanbul with seven points from three games and as the only German club in the top eight. They leave with their first defeat of the campaign. Galatasaray, who led by the same score at the interval in our half-time report, climb to six points from four matches and into the thick of the play-off race.
Two goals in three minutes settle it
The visitors actually started the better side. Jamie Leweling arrived unmarked at the far post in the eighth minute and hit both posts with the same shot, and Atakan Karazor was fortunate to escape with only a yellow card two minutes in after stamping on Mario Lemina's ankle — Karazor was hooked after just 18 minutes.
Galatasaray were ruthless where Stuttgart were wasteful. In the 12th minute a low cross was cut out by Jeff Chabot but the ball fell to Batrakov, who drove it into the bottom corner past Fabian Bredlow. Three minutes later Davinson Sanchez split the defence with a through ball and Batrakov finished through Bredlow's legs for his second. The Russian nearly completed a 22-minute hat-trick, forcing a save that Bredlow spilled, with Victor Osimhen offside as he chased the rebound.
A brawl before the break
Tempers boiled over seven minutes before half-time. Baris Yilmaz led a counter under pressure from Chris Fuhrich, the two wrestled on the touchline and Yilmaz dropped the Stuttgart winger in front of the benches. Deniz Undav confronted Yilmaz, players from both sides piled in — Sanchez and Ermedin Demirovic among them — and, as The Sun reported, it took Galatasaray manager Okan Buruk to calm it down. Referee Chris Kavanagh, remarkably, booked only Yilmaz and Undav.
Stuttgart push, Cakir stands firm
Sebastian Hoeness's side threw everything at the second half. Bilal El Khannouss produced their first shot on target on 58 minutes, straight at Cakir, and the Galatasaray goalkeeper then turned away a venomous Undav effort from the edge of the box. Buruk sent on Rafael Leao and Wilfried Singo, but it was Stuttgart who kept coming.
They thought they were back in it on 75 minutes: Undav hit the crossbar and Fuhrich fired in the rebound, only for the goal to be ruled out for an offside against Undav in the build-up, as OneFootball confirmed from the live action. Cakir still had one more big moment in him, an outstanding save to deny Pejcinovic on 86 minutes, before Tiago Tomas headed wide unmarked in the final minute. Osimhen, for all his running, spent the night firing everywhere but the goal — this was Batrakov's evening, in a side named in the confirmed lineups unchanged from the derby win over Fenerbahce.
So what does it mean?
Galatasaray's second win of the league phase moves them onto six points and keeps a top-eight finish within reach if they can back this up on the road. For Stuttgart, a first defeat is no disaster — seven points still has them well placed — but the defensive errors that gifted both goals, and a goalless night despite a dozen chances, will sting Hoeness more than the result.
Beyond the Final Whistle: Batrakov decided this game in 180 seconds, but Cakir won it in the second half. Stuttgart's unbeaten record did not die in Istanbul because Galatasaray were brilliant for 90 minutes — it died because the home side had the two most clinical men on the pitch, one at each end. Did the disallowed Fuhrich goal change this game, or were Galatasaray always holding on? Let us know in the comments.
