Galatasaray win Turkish Cup for 18th time

The Lions came from a goal down to emerge victorious and add the trophy to their cabinet for the 18th time.

Turkey’s most successful football club, Galatasaray, defeated recently relegated Akhisarspor 3-1 in Sivas on Wednesday evening to win the Turkish Cup.

After a stale 45 minutes, the game began to live up to its promise in the second half.

Akhisarspor stunned their opponents in the 56th minute when their bulky forward Elvis Manu struck the ball past Galatasaray goalkeeper Fernando Muslera to open the scoreline making it 1-0.

Galatasaray were given a chance to equalize in the 65th minute thanks to a penalty but the league’s all-time top foreign goalscorer Mbaye Diagne failed to convert from the spot-kick.

Cim Bom continued to press for a goal and were rewarded another penalty in the the 78th minute after Akhisar’s Miguel Lopes tackled Mbaye Diagne from behind in the penalty box.

The game took a sudden turn, however, when Lopes heavily protested against the decision and verbally insulted the referee, who was left with no choice but to send off the player with a red card.

Turkish forward Sinan Gumus, who came on as a substitute in the second half, stepped up to take the penalty and successfully converted to equalize for Galatasaray.

Galatasaray made the most of their numerical advantage for the remainder of the duel and thanks to goals from Sofiane Feghouli in the 88th minute and Mbaye Diagne in the 90th, finished the game as victors with a scoreline of 3-1.

Akhisarspor’s players refused to attend the ceremony.

Feeling unjustly done by the referee, Akhisarspor’s players, with the exception of goalkeeper Fatih Ozturk, refused to attend the trophy ceremony after the game by leaving the pitch after the 90 minutes.

In the post-game conference, Galatasaray coach Fatih Terim said the team’s entire focus is now on winning the Turkish Super Lig in order to finish the 2018-2019 with a domestic double.