Key events
73 mins: Ziyech is on, Mertens off.
“The only way this night could get worse for Spurs is if Lankshear uses up all of the hot water in the visitors’ shower,” Peter Oh emails. Surely it is more of a bath culture in Turkey.
71 mins: Osimhen goes down clutching his head. I suspect he is just trying to get Dragusin, on a booking, in trouble. Maybe I am just a cynical old man … no I’ve seen the challenge, nothing happened.
GOAL! Galatasaray 3-2 Tottenham (Solanke, 69)
Porro pings a ball to the front post, which Solanke flicks in superbly. Game on?
68 mins: Bentancur flicks a pass blindly inside his own half and it goes straight to Torreira. If Spurs give the ball away easily in their own half once more, I will write to my MP.
66 mins: Solanke and Sarr are on, Maddison and Bergvall out.
Kulusevski seems to be up and about.
65 mins: Some more bad news for Spurs as Kulusevski is down clutching his shoulder after an awkward landing.
64 mins: Bissouma has gone in the book for complaining to the referee about the red card.
Losing 3-1 would be a decent result for Spurs now.
62 mins: I can’t see the 10 men turning this around.
Speaking of … Yilmaz shoots from 18 yards and Forster parries the ball straight out into danger but a Spurs leg turns it behind before Icardi can finish.
Yunus Akgun then whacks a shot towards the top corner which Forster does incredibly well to stop.
RED CARD! Lankshear
60 mins: Lankshear is dispossessed and becomes incredibly frustrated, thinking he is the victim, and then dives in on Sara. It is a booking and that is his second of the match. On the upside, he commits the foul next to the tunnel and does not have far to walk.
58 mins: I am starting to finding it quite embarrassing for the Premier League watching this Spurs attempt to pass it out from the back.
Lankshear gets his second chance of the match, spinning inside the box but cannot produce sufficient power and Muslera drops on the ball.
56 mins: More dreadful play at the back allows gift Icardi a chance but he cannot stretch far enough to connect with an Osimhen cross.
Not that he needs to worry because Spurs are very willing to give the ball away seconds later and Icardi does get a shot away, only to see it blocked.
It is almost three seconds later when Osimhen shoots from six yards but Forster just about saves.
54 mins: Lankshear is booked, much to his chagrin, for whacking a Gala defender across the chest. He looks a frustrated figure despite his goal.
Sara is now cautioned for pulling back Maddison but the Spurs made the most of it.
52 mins: Bentancur shows some wonderful skill in the centre circle but Lankshear can’t hold onto the subsequent pass.
Down the other end, Osimhen lurks on the penalty spot and gets a free header from a Mertens cross but sends it over.
51 mins: Yunus Akgun almost gets a second when he whacks a half-cleared corner back at goal but it is deflected wide off Dragusin’s head.
49 mins: Kulusevski goes into the book for a foul on Osimhen. Forster is the latest to perform a glorious error. He comes to claim a simple catch from the free-kick but drops the ball under no pressure, Gala have a few bites at the cherry but somehow Spurs clear.
I have not feared losing work to AI but I suspect the bots could cover this match. ‘Spurs give ball away, Gala shoot.
47 mins: Spurs really are atrocious at passing it out from the back, resulting in Icardi having a fine chance but he whacks his shot over from inside the box.
Second half
Peep! Peep! Peep! Here we go again!
Bentancur and Kulusevski on for Spurs – Johnson and Son off.
Alternate reading.
Decent …
Half-time reading.
Half time: Galatasaray 3-1 Tottenham
What a relentless 45 minutes. Spurs were architects of their own downfall with some woeful attempts to pass out from the back and gifting Osimhen goals in the process after working hard to get back into the match.
45+1 mins: I am having to watch Spurs pass the ball around the back through my fingers and I don’t even support them.
45 mins: Three minutes added on.
43 mins: Spurs just love giving the ball away. Maddison has barely been involved thus far and that needs to change.
41 mins: Osimhen is really good, isn’t he? I wonder if Manchester City would like someone to challenge Haaland in January …
GOAL! It is a wonderful cross from the right by Mertens to find Osimhen in between two defenders, allowing the striker to cushion the ball into the corner.
GOAL! Galatasaray 3-1 Tottenham (Osimhen, 39)
It did not take long to get the third.
39 mins: It should be 3-1 after more useless passing around the back from Spurs results in Osimhen being one-on-one with Forster but the goalkeeper does well to save.
38 mins: Icardi is allowed to cut in from the left and take aim for the far corner but his shot is wayward.
Spurs break down the other end but Son’s run down the wing is curtailed by a clip of the ankles from Sanchez.
36 mins: VAR is checking for a potential red card for Bissouma for a challenge on Icardi. That seems a waste of time for everyone as it is barely a booking.
34 mins: Just to add, Dragusin was booked for a foul in the buildup to the goal. A glorious liability.
GOAL! What a stupid goal to give away. Davies passes the ball to his centre-back partner Dragusin who opens his body out because he does not sense any danger but he is immediately dispossessed by Icardi and then Mertens plays the ball through to Osimhen to finish. Dragusin looks unconvincing whenever I see him.
GOAL! Galatasaray 2-1 Tottenham (Osimhen, 32)
Glorious incompetence from Spurs.
30 mins: NO GOAL! Muslera whacks the ball downfield and Galatasaray keep it in the final third. Mertens clips the ball over the defence to Osimhen in space, allowing him to turn it home. The only problem is that he is a yard offside, much to his surprise.
29 mins: Osimhen takes the ball off a colleague and sends a dangerous cross along the six-yard line but no one can get on the end of it.
27 mins: Gala have a corner on the right and it results in a second corner. Sara swings it in but it is cleared a the front post by Porro.
25 mins: Sara beats the press and slips the ball through for Osimhen who latches onto the pass inside the box but Forster is equally to it and parries to the edge of the box where Mertens is lurking. The Belgian can’t control his shot and sends the ball wide.
23 mins: Bogdan Kotarlic emails: “Loudest atmosphere at a football match for me was back in November 1988, Champions cup, Red Star Belgrade-AC Milan. There were something like 90 thousand fans and all of them yelled and screamed and waved their scarves. It was really insane, I couldn’t hear my best friend who was in the stands next to me. Later in the match, with Red Star leading 1-0 and having a man more because of red card for AC Milan’s Virdis the match was abbandoned due to heavy fog. Crazy atmsophere, I felt shivers all the time and when that fog came in the middle of the second half we didn’t know what was going on, the crowd was still noisy and the fog was very thick so we did’t know what was happening down on the pitch. Those were the days, real fans, proper football, some great players and a lot of memories.”
