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Yamal stays cool at boiling Galatasaray to lift Barcelona to victory / Photo: © AFP
Yamal stays cool at boiling Galatasaray to lift Barcelona to victory
Barcelona and Lamine Yamal rediscovered their sparkle after a rocky first-half spell in the cauldron of Istanbul's Ali Sami Yen stadium to win 4-1 away to Galatasaray in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Halfway through the second round of matches, the victory lifted Barcelona to the top of the Champions League table with two wins. Galatasaray are pointless and near the foot of the standings.
Barcelona dominated the early stages. With Yamal vigorously policed on the right by the home defence, many of their attacks flowed through Anthony Gordon on the other flank.
Yet Galatasaray took the lead after 27 minutes. After Gordon went tumbling in the penalty box, the hosts launched a rapid counter-attack through Rafael Leao on the left.
He pulled the ball back to the edge of the area to Russian Aleksei Batrakov whose drive deflected off Joao Cancelo and into the corner of the goal.
That ignited a spell of furious home pressure which culminated with Victor Osimhen rising to head a corner past goalkeeper Joan Garcia. Baris Yilmaz toed the ball over the line but was ruled offside.
Barcelona reasserted control. When Yamal went down on the edge of the box, the ball broke to a surprised Davinson Sanchez who gave the ball away immediately. It fell to Dani Olmo who threaded a pass to Cancelo who scored.
At the start of the second half Yamal took over. After setting up Gordon, who spurned the chance, he helped put Barca ahead in the 50th minute, placing a gentle curled cross on the forehead of Fermin Lopez who nodded home.
Three minutes later, Yamal beat Eren Elmali three times, and in three different ways, in a tiny space before rolling a pass to Gordon in front of goal.
This time the England striker made no mistake with Elmali, a Turkey international, lifting his arms to the heavens in an expression of powerlessness.
After 65 minutes Yamal cut in from his wing and fired a pass to replacement centre forward Gabriel Jesus. The ex-Arsenal man could not control the ball but it deflected to Karim Adeyemi who drilled the ball home.
And three minutes later, Yamal should have got on the scoresheet himself but after being quickest to a loose ball he fired his shot over the bar.
The 19-year-old finished the game without a goal which would have taken him closer to Kylian Mbappe's record for Champions League goals as a teenager, but Yamal, who became Barcelona's youngest ever captain in the previous round, again took over the captain's armband when Pedri was replaced.
C. de Fatima--JDB
