The Galatasaray Lions hammered Iranian First Division League football team Pas Hamedan 4-0 on Sunday to complete a three-peat in their Dutch training camp.
The Lions mauled German side FC Kleve 4-0 in their opening match last Tuesday and crushed Homberg, another German team, 5-0 in their second outing last Thursday. This means the Galatasaray Lions have scored 14 goals and conceded none in their three warm-up matches so far.
Galatasaray Dutch coach Frank Rijkaard gave new signings Musa Çağıran, Serdar Özkan and Lorik Cana a chance in the starting XI that included Ufuk Ceylan (goalkeeper), Sabri Sarıoğlu, Gökhan Zan, Hakan Kadir Balta, Çetin Güngör, Mustafa Sarp, Arda Turan and Anıl Dilaver.
Lions dominate
It was obvious from the word go that the Iranians were no match for the hungry Lions. And so it came as no surprise when Musa headed home an Arda cross from the left flank in the seventh minute to put Galatasaray 1-0 up.
Thereafter the upbeat Lions threw everything at Hamedan, desperately trying to find a second goal. But the Iranians managed to withstand the onslaught. No further goals were forthcoming and the first half ended with the Lions holding on to their slim lead.
Rijkaard, apparently not pleased with the performance of his starting XI, changed the entire team, with the exception of the goalkeeper, in the second half -- giving newcomers Ali Turan and Mehmet Batdal an opportunity to prove their worth in this half.
The Galatasaray line-up in the second half included the following players:
Ceylan, Ali Turan, Servet Çetin, Ahmet Kesim, Fatih Serkan Kurtuluş, Ayhan Akman, Aydın Yılmaz, Emre Çolak, Barış Özbek, Cumhur Yılmaztürk and Mehmet Batdal.
The changes worked wonders, as Barış redirected a shot taken by Yılmaz barely five minutes into the second half (50th minute), to double the score for the Lions. Batdal made it 3-0 three minutes later with a cracker of a shot into the back of the net and was again on target in the 68th to increase the tally to 4-0.
The resounding warm-up victories over weak opposition, without a doubt have made everybody associated with the Lions happy. But the fact of the matter is that these easy wins cannot be used to measure Galatasaray’s real form.
The Lions move on to Germany where they will play archrival Fenerbahçe in the Spor Toto Friendly Cup in Mönchengladbach on Wednesday. This will be the first real preseason test for the two teams.
Court to deliver verdict on HIV popstar Nadja Benaissa
Bremen sells Özil to Real Madrid
Turkish embassy attacker detained
WHO says swine flu pandemic is over
