FRANKFURT, Germany – Eintracht Frankfurt produced a stunning performance to crush Galatasaray 5-1 on Wednesday night in their Champions League opener, turning around a 1-0 deficit to record one of the most impressive results in recent memory.
The Turkish side came into this game in brilliant form, winning all five games this season and conceding just one goal. They nearly fell behind after two minutes but recovered to take the lead through Yunus Akgün on eight minutes. The winger cut inside and curled a lovely left-footed shot into the bottom corner to give the visitors exactly what they wanted.
Galatasaray looked comfortable for most of the first half and seemed like they was going to take their lead into the break. But everything changed in the final few minutes before halftime. First Davinson Sánchez got unlucky when Ritsu Doan’s shot deflected off him and past keeper Çakir to make it 1-1.
Then in the second minute of injury time Frankfurt went ahead for the first time. Can Uzun, the young Turkish striker, smashed the ball into the roof of the net from inside the box to silence the away fans. But Frankfurt wasn’t done yet and got a third goal right before the whistle when Jonathan Burkardt headed home from Fares Chaibi’s free-kick.
The second half started with Galatasaray needing to find a way back into the game. They had a great chance around the hour mark when Baris Yilmaz played a perfect ball across the six-yard box but Ilkay Gundogan somehow put his shot straight at Michael Zetterer from close range. That miss proved costly.
Frankfurt made them pay six minutes later when Burkardt got his second goal of the night, another header that took a big deflection off the unlucky Sánchez. The defender couldn’t catch a break and his team was falling apart.
Things got even worse for the Turkish side with 15 minutes left when Ansgar Knauff scored the fifth. Gabriel Sara lost the ball on the edge of his own box and Knauff pounced to finish off a miserable night for Galatasaray.
Frankfurt controlled the final stages easily to secure three points that puts them top of the table after the first round of games. For Galatasaray, this result extends their poor away record in Europe to seven games without a win, and Okan Buruk will have plenty to think about before their next European fixture.
