Galatasaray to face Akhisarspor in Cup final

The two clubs are this season’s Turkish Cup finalists.

Akhisarspor fought hard to emerge victorious from their Turkish Cup semi-final on Wednesday evening against second division outfit Umraniyespor.

Last year’s winners, Akhisarspor, won the second leg of their clash by the same scoreline as their first encounter, 1-0. Akigo advance to the final 2-0 aggregate.

On Thursday, Galatasaray booked their place in the Turkish Cup final with ease as they overcame a lackluster Malatyaspor with a score of 5-2. The first leg between the two teams ended in a 0-0 draw in Istanbul.

The Lions, despite being the away side, showed good clinical precision as they smashed five goals past the opposition and were unfortunate not to score more.

Martine Linnes, sofiane Feghouli, Henry Onyekuru and Kostas Mitorglou were Galatasaray’s goalscorers. Onyekuru managed to get himself on the scoresheet twice.

Malatyaspor scored one of their goals via a penalty kick just before the half-time break and their second consolation goal came in the 89th minute via their defender Arturo Mina.

The 2018-2019 Turkish Cup final will be held on May 16, 2019 at 4 Eylul Stadium in Sivas — the home of Super Lig outfit Sivasspor.

Akhisarspor will be hoping to pull off another upset as they did last year against Fenerbahce to lift the Turkish Cup for the first time in their history, while Galatasaray know that the Cup could be their only hope of silverware this season.

The two sides are very familiar with each other, having met in the Turkish Super Cup final at the beginning of the 2018-2019 season, with Akhisarspor winning that duel 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.