Galatasaray made an avoidable loss to Frankfurt in their UCL opener, and I say the loss was avoidable because it was a combination of loss of possession, defensive errors, Yunus’ selfishness, and a tactical blunder that led to the defeat. While Galatasaray fielded their best possible lineup and played very well for the first 35 minutes of the match, Yunus Akgün opened the scoring in the 9th minute thanks to teamwork.
However, a few minutes later, Barış missed a clear-cut chance resulting from İlkay’s tactical intelligence with a free kick. After missing the chance, he ghosted the rest of the game, and you wonder why Osimhen is literally half of Galatasaray’s attack and midfield is getting £21m per year. Galatasaray’s legitimate goal was then wrongfully disallowed due to a so-called foul.
Yunus and Sané, the two Galatasaray wingers, couldn’t keep the ball, constantly losing possession, which Frankfurt capitalized on. Not just that—the defense lacked concentration, with Davinson Sánchez’s mistake resulting in an own goal. By halftime, Frankfurt had scored three—not because they were so good, but because Galatasaray’s defense had collapsed, and the wingers, especially Yunus, wanted to be the stars so badly that he repeatedly refused to pass the ball, even making hand gestures to İlkay. This was the same attitude that contributed to Galatasaray’s loss against Ajax in the Europa League, when Osimhen shouted at him for it. I don’t blame them entirely, but I feel Yunus thinks he can’t be replaced because of the foreign player rule in Türkiye.
The first-half blame wasn’t on Okan Buruk. However, in the second half, Okan made a tactical blunder by subbing off Lemina for Icardi and leaving the midfield empty. While Icardi—the team’s striker—did need to come on, subbing Lemina for him wasn’t the right move. Even when Okan does this in the league, opponents start pressing, and just because Icardi comes and scores an easy goal ten minutes later doesn’t mean your defensive midfielder should be taken off.
The good thing about Icardi is that he is clinical, but the bad thing is that he doesn’t run or press. This has been the same since his Inter days—he’s a lazy striker, but a very good one. Galatasaray conceded two more goals after Okan’s tactical substitution.
Nevertheless, I believe good coaches learn from their mistakes, and the best lineup for the Champions League—especially with Victor Osimhen available—should be something like a 3-5-2:
GK: Günay or Urgan
Back Three (CBs):
LCB: Jakobs
CCB: Davinson Sánchez
RCB: Singo
Wingbacks:
LWB: Sallai
RWB: Barış
Midfield Three:
DM: Lemina
CM: Torreira
AM: İlkay or Sara
Forwards:
ST:Osimhen
SS / ST: Yunus Akgün