Galatasaray boost chances by beating United
Reuters - Tuesday 20 November 2012, 21:38
Galatasaray earned a 1-0 victory in a hard-fought battle with a young
Manchester United side on Tuesday, snatching the win through a Burak
Yilmaz header in their Group H Champions League game.
The
victory boosted Galatasaray's hopes of reaching the knockout stage,
putting them in second place in the group, behind United who had already
qualified after four wins in their first four matches.
Burak
put the Turkish champions ahead in the 53rd minute, heading into the
top left corner above the head of Rafael after Felipe Melo had gone
close seconds earlier and won a corner.
Hamit Altintop just failed to double Galatasaray's lead in the 78th minute with a powerful shot which flew off the crossbar.
United,
knowing qualification was already assured, rested a number of senior
players including Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes,
David de Gea and Robin van Persie.
In
their final match on December 5, Galatasaray, who are ahead of CFR Cluj on
goal difference, will play Braga. The Portuguese side, who lost 3-1 to
Cluj, are already out of the competition on three points.
After
a cagey start, Galatasaray became more of a threat as the first half
progressed, pinning the visitors back into their own half but creating
few goalscoring opportunities.
Striker Burak headed over the bar from a Selcuk Inan free-kick in the 21st minute.
UNITED CHANCES
Galatasaray
went close again some 10 minutes later when a strike from Hamit forced a
save from Anders Lindegaard and United scrambled the ball away.
United worked hard to keep possession and neutralise any threat from Galatasaray and had chances of their own in the first half.
Eighteen-year-old Nick Powell, on his Champions League debut, saw his header fly off the crossbar in the 43rd minute.
Galatasaray
started the second half in determined fashion and an Albert Riera
volley from outside the penalty area was save by Lindegaard in the 49th
minute.
United stepped up a
gear and sought to find a way back into the game but Galatasaray
survived a late bout of pressure to secure the points.
"Beating
Manchester United is important," said Galatasaray coach Fatih Terim.
"We played brilliantly and unselfishly. My players played football in a
way we have been expecting for a long time.
"We
are very hopeful for second place," he added. "There is no guarantee in
football but we will play well at Braga who no longer have any chance."
United
manager Sir Alex Ferguson said: "Parts of the game were good but in the
area which we were worried about - set pieces - we suffered.
"Other
than that I was satisfied and it was a decent performance," Ferguson
told the club website. "We had some good attacking play
in the first half and at that point the only trouble they gave us was
from outside the box. It was a very competitive, good game."
United's
Darren Fletcher said the Istanbul pitch had made things difficult. "The
biggest problem was that the pitch wasn't good at all," the midfielder
told Sky television. "It was difficult to play one-twos."