Galatasaray barely beat Sivasspor in Turkish Super Lig

By Can Erozden

ANKARA (AA) - Galatasaray won against Demir Grup Sivasspor 3-2 in their Turkish Super Lig match in Istanbul on Friday.

Home team Galatasaray took the lead in the 22nd minute of the match as Lions’ Romanian forward Florin Andone’s shot from outside the penalty area beating Sivasspor goalkeeper Mamadou Samassa.

This was Andone’s first goal for Galatasaray.

Galatasaray were awarded a penalty kick in the 41st minute as Andone was fouled by visitors’ Gabonese defender Aaron Appindangoye in the penalty box.

Andone converted the penalty successfully to double the gap for Galatasaray, 2-0.

Galatasaray led the first half 2-0.

In the early minutes of the second half, Sivasspor were down to 10 men as Ghanaian midfielder Isaac Cofie was sent off after fouling Turkish midfielder Omer Bayram.

In the 69th minute, Sivasspor kept their hopes alive as Ivorian forward Arouna Kone’s goal reduced the gap to one, 1-2.

The referee validated Kone’s goal after the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system checked the position.

Galatasaray made it 3-1 in the 74th minute as their Dutch forward Ryan Babel’s shot in the area, hit the bar and went in.

Near the end of the match, Sivasspor made the score 2-3 as Turkish winger Erdogan Yesilyurt’s close range tap beat Galatasaray goalkeeper Fernando Muslera.

Ten-man Sivasspor took risks to score the equalizer but Galatasaray secured the 3-2 lead to win Friday’s match.

Following this win, Galatasaray went up to second spot with 13 points in the league table.

Sivasspor were down to the third place in standings as they had 12 points.

Meanwhile, Galatasaray’s Colombian star Radamel Falcao didn’t play in this match as he had Achilles tendon pains.