Aleksey Batrakov scored twice inside the first quarter of an hour as Galatasaray beat Stuttgart 2-0 in the Champions League at Rams Park (Ali Sami Yen Stadium) on Tuesday.
The result, on League phase matchday 4, lifts Galatasaray to 14th in the table. Stuttgart stay inside the top eight despite the defeat.
Two goals in three minutes
Stuttgart were booked inside two minutes, Atakan Karazor going into the book at 2'. Galatasaray took the lead at 12' through Batrakov.
Three minutes later he scored again. Davinson Sánchez was credited with the assist for the 15' goal, which made it 2-0.
There were no more goals. Galatasaray did not concede, and Stuttgart could not find a way back after the early double.
What the numbers say
Full team statistics were not available for this match, but the cards give some picture of how it went. There were eight yellows in all, five for Stuttgart and three for Galatasaray.
Karazor was the first, then Barış Alper Yılmaz and Deniz Undav were both booked at 39'. Yanik Spalt followed for Stuttgart at 45+3'. After the break, Grischa Prömel (61') and Ramon Hendriks (79') were cautioned for Stuttgart, while Roland Sallai (62') and Lucas Torreira (85') were booked for Galatasaray.
Stuttgart's nine yellow cards for the campaign are one more than Galatasaray's eight.
The season averages show two sides with different strengths. Galatasaray score 2 goals a game and concede 2.25. Stuttgart score 1.75 and concede 1. Stuttgart average 1.75 points a game, against 1.5 for Galatasaray. Each side has one clean sheet this season.
What it means in the table
Galatasaray have 6 points from four games, with two wins and a goal difference of -1. That puts them 14th.
Stuttgart are eighth with 7 points from four, also with two wins, and a goal difference of +3. The top eight go straight through to the last 16, so they remain in that group. Ninth to 24th go into the knockout play-offs.
Before this game, Galatasaray had lost to Sporting and Barcelona and won 4-2 at Lille. Stuttgart had beaten Viking 3-1 and Slovan Bratislava 3-0 and drawn 1-1 with Atlético Madrid.
The two clubs had no recent meetings to draw on. PSG lead the table with 9 points from three wins.
MFF's match model had predicted a 2-1 win for Stuttgart, giving them a 39% chance, against 38% for a Galatasaray win and 23% for a draw. It got this one wrong.
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