Galatasaray knocked out of Champions League

The Lions waved goodbye to Europe’s elite competition on Wednesday after their away loss in Russia.

On a snowy Wednesday evening, Galatasaray have had their hopes of progressing to the knockout stages of the Champions League crushed after they lost 2-0 against Lokomotiv Moscow.

The Russian champions picked up their first points of the campaign thanks to Grzegorz Krychowiak’s deflected shot just before half time — ruled officially as a Ryan Donk own-goal — and a neat flick over the Galatasaray goalkeeper Fernando Muslera by Vladislav Ignatyev in the 54th minute. The result ensured Schalke and Porto would qualify from the group even before they played later on Wednesday night.

While the Russian outfit cannot qualify in the final round of games, they could overtake Galatasaray and move up to third place in Group D which would earn them a spot in the Europa League. That would require Lokomotiv to win away to Schalke on December 11 and for Galatasaray not to win against Porto.

For the Turkish champions the defeat brings a disappointing early end to a campaign which began with a win over, ironically, Lokomotiv Moscow in Turkey.

The Lions dominated possession but were denied by good saves from Lokomotiv goalkeeper Guilherme.