Galatasaray win derby, move to top of league

The Lions have moved into first place and are now in pole position to win the Super Lig title.

Galatasaray comfortably defeated their rivals Besiktas 2-0 at Turk Telekom Arena on Sunday evening in front of a record crowd of 51,578 fans, hundreds of which arrived from Japan.

Fatih Terim’s men made the most of their chances to win the game as they attacked The Black Eagles from all sides of the pitch.

Henry Onyekuru opened the scoreline in the 44th minute after a quick Galatasaray attack down the left wing. Midfielder Fernando provided the assist.

In the 54th minute, Fernando made it 2-0 when he found himself with plenty of space as Besiktas were substituting one of their full-backs which caused a gap to open up in the Besiktas defense.

Galatasaray were unlucky to not have won by a bigger margin. One of their goals in the first half was ruled offside while a penalty kick in the second half was called off.

Cim Bom’s victory means they move up to first place with 63 points.

Istanbul Basaksehir slipped up in the title race on Friday, May 3 by drawing 0-0 with Sivasspor. Despite also having 63 points, Basaksehir move down to second place due to Galatasaray’s better head-to-head points difference.

Besiktas remain in third place with 59 points.

With the race far from over as there are still three weeks of games left to play, it is one of the closest title races Turkish football has seen.

Galatasaray will host Istanbul Basaksehir on Sunday, May 19 in what is likely to be the game to decide the winner of the 2018-2019 Turkish Super Lig.