Barcelona and Lamine Yamal rediscovered their sparkle after a rocky first-half spell against Galatasaray to win 4-1 in their UEFA Champions League match in Turkiye.
Yamal tore the hosts apart after half-time at Istanbul’s Ali Sami Yen Stadium, Galatasaray’s cauldron, on Tuesday.
“It’s incredible to have players like that,” said Barcelona coach Hansi Flick of Yamal. “He’s turned the game around for us.”
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.
“We’re at a very high level. We have to keep going; the season is very long. We can’t relax,” Barcelona’s Fermin Lopez told a Spanish broadcaster.
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 counterattack through Rafael Leao on the left.
He pulled the ball back to the edge of the area to Russian Aleksey Batrakov, whose drive deflected off Joao Cancelo and into the corner of the goal.
“That goal made things a bit strange for us, because we had been dominating. But we knew how to react and come back,” said Fermin.
That ignited a spell of furious home pressure which culminated in 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, who nodded home.
“He’s a friend and a great teammate,” said Fermin of Yamal. “When he has the ball, I always look for a run. He’s the best in the world. We get along well off the field, and that shows on the pitch, too.”
‘Everyone’s watching Lamine’
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 Turkiye 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.
“When you see the chances Lamine creates in every training session, it’s the same in matches,” said Flick. “I have a lot of top-quality players. Everyone’s watching Lamine – that’s only natural.”
Yamal could have scored 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.
Source: www.aljazeera.com
