Galatasaray lose, advance to Europa League

The Lions put up a good fight but were unfortunate not to at least walk away with a point after losing 3-2 to FC Porto at home.

Turkish Super Lig champions Galatasaray had a frustrating time on Tuesday night as they gave it their all but came up short in their final Champions League group game against FC Porto in Istanbul.

The Turkish club, playing at home in front of 33,972 fans, controlled the game with their ball possession, 62% to 38% for the majority of the duel.

They conceded the first goal of the night in the 17th minute when Felipe connected with a Alex Telles cross, who used to play for the Lions a few seasons ago, and gave his team the lead with a 1-0 score.

In the 42nd minute, Moussa Meraga doubled the away side’s lead after the referee awarded them a penalty due to Mariano tripping Porto’s Hernani in the penalty box.

Just as the home side were losing hope, in the extra minutes of the first half, Galatasaray were awarded a penalty when Felipe, Porto’s first goalscorer of the night, tripped Garry Rodriges.

Sofiane Feghouli, who’s been under a lot of criticism this season, stepped up and put the ball in the back of the net to give the home side a slimmer of hope and make the score 2-1.

Feghouli scored his first penalty kick but missed the second.

The second half started off just like the first, with lots of high tempo plays.

In the 57th minute, Porto made it 3-1 via Sergio Oliviera after a quick attack by the Portuguese side.

Several minutes later, Galatasaray pulled one back to make it 3-2 when striker Eren Derdiyok connected with a Garry Rodrigues cross.

By this point, Galatasaray were pushing Porto from all sides and managed to win themselves another penalty in the 66th minute via a trip on Garry Rodrigues.

However, penalty taker Sofiane Feghouli was unable to convert from the penalty spot. The Algerian international blasted the ball into the crossbar and watched it go out out of play, much to the dismay of the players and fans.

The home side remained resilient and kept pushing for the equalizer but it wasn’t meant to be.

The final whistle brought their Champions League participation to an end.

They finished 3rd in their Group D with 4 points which means they are eliminated from the competition but advance to the knockout stages of the Europa League.

Porto and Schalke, the two clubs that finished 1st and 2nd respectively, advance from the group while Lokomotiv Moscow, who finished 4th, is eliminated.