Galatasaray is making huge strides towards defending its SüperLig title. On Friday evening, Cimbom Antalyaspor was clearly shown the limits – especially by goal-scoring machine Osimhen.
The roles at the start of matchday 28 of the Turkish league were clearly defined: on the one hand, the league leaders, who had not lost any of their previous 13 home games (10/3/0, +17). On the other, the team in tenth place, who had only managed to collect nine points (2/3/8, -17) in 13 away games.
The game at Rams Park on Friday evening was just as one-sided as the statistics suggest. Above all, because there was no way to stop Galatasaray’s goal machine Osimhen. However, it took Cimbom exactly half an hour to break the spell: Yilmaz set up Morata, who made a perfect turn to set up Osimhen – 1-0.
Just before half-time, there was a VAR intervention because defender Sanchez had headed his opponent’s arm. Osimhen was supposed to take the penalty, but he “gave” the ball to Morata. The Spaniard politely thanked him with a handshake – and then coolly converted the penalty into the bottom right corner (45’+1′).
When the visitors were already thinking about going into the dressing room, Osimhen made it 3-0. However, at least half of the goal belonged to Yilmaz, who had beaten his opponent Uzunhan and crossed into the six-yard box (45.+3).
With his second goal of the evening and 19th of the season, Osimhen took over first place in the Turkish scoring charts from former Berliner Piatek (Basaksehir), who previously had 18 goals.
Two explosive city derbies await
After the break, even new personnel on the visitors’ side did not improve the situation. Instead, it was Osimhen who scored his hat-trick and immediately extended the newly acquired lead in the scoring charts: Akgün provided an ideal assist for the hero of the evening, who coolly shot the ball into the far corner from the right side of the box (52′).
Osimhen was then given a rousing send-off to thunderous applause in the 68th minute, with former Freiburg player Sallai, Mertens and Lemina coming on to replace him. The game was already over and it remained that way with the final score at 4-0.
With this convincing home win, Galatasaray has built up confidence for two upcoming city derbies: the league game at Besiktas will be followed by the cup quarter-final at Fenerbahce.
