This chaotic defeat will not stop Tottenham from progressing in the Europa League, but there is a good chance it will persist. The ringing in the ears of Ange Postecoglou and her players when they wake up in London will see to that.
Remind them that it wasn’t just some kind of fever dream. During the first hour, Spurs were maimed by Galatasaray. His goal, opened with astonishing regularity, was punctuated by 27 shots from the Turks, who scored three before the break.
Victor Osimhen gave a lesson in the art of centre-forward play and only the heroics of Fraser Forster kept the humiliation at bay before, reduced to 10 men an hour, they called a counter-attack of sorts as Galatasaray ran out of energy and I ended up holding on. .
The boisterous home crowd, which had generated a deafening roar for most of the night, eventually called on referee Lawrence Visser to end the match.
It was breathless, brilliant and crazy. And Will Lankshear certainly won’t forget his second start for the club. The teenage striker scored his first goal and was sent off for receiving two yellow cards in seven minutes of the second half.
Galatasaray beat Tottenham 3-2 thanks to a magnificent double from Victor Osimhen
Galatasaray’s summer signing scored two goals in eight minutes to give his team complete control
First half to forget for Ange Postecoglou’s team that lost possession
Galatasaray started at 160 kilometers per hour and scored early. A spectacular goal was also scored by Yunus Akgun, who was on loan at Leicester in the Championship last season.
Gabriel Sara took a free kick into the Spurs penalty area, heading towards Akgun, who quickly adjusted his feet as it bounced in his direction and returned it, past Fraser Forster’s dive.
The volume went up and off the scale, which must have been something of an experience for this depleted Spurs team with three teenagers, including 19-year-old centre-forward Lankshear, who was making just his second start.
Lankshear turned his back on Akgun’s opener, although any criticism disappeared when he equalized from close range after Brennan Johnson received Archie Gray’s pass across the goal. It was a fairly simple ending, but a special moment for a young striker who started out in Arsenal’s academy and crossed north London via Sheffield United.
Most of Tottenham’s problems, however, came at the back, where Pedro Porro was the only starter in the starting defensive unit, with central defenders Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven injured and Destiny Udogie and Guglielmo Vicario starting at the bench .
They looked fragile against Galatasaray’s powerful spearhead, easily unbuttoned and frequently trapped in possession by the energy and intensity of the Turkish champions, roared on by a feverish home crowd.
Radu Dragusin was guilty more often than most and missed the chance to stop the move which led to Galatasaray’s second, which was clinically converted by Osimhen, stabbing Forster low with the toe after moving away from Ben Davies in space .
His second was another exquisite finish. This time, a volley headed just inside a post as he leapt to meet a teasing cross headed in from the right by Dries Mertens. He was electric, with rhythm and movement to create spaces and lethal in front of goal.
Yunus Akgun opened the scoring for the Turks with a sublime volley in the sixth minute.
Teenager Will Lankshear scored from close range to level the score for Tottenham.
But his night ended in heartbreak after referee Lawrence Visser told him to leave after brandishing a second yellow card following his late challenge on Galatasaray’s Gabriel Sara.
During this purple patch at the end of the first half, Osimhen also had a goal disallowed for offside and Forster twice had it disallowed with excellent saves. Galatasaray led 3-1 at half-time and received a standing ovation, but they could easily have had five or six.
Spurs barely managed to get out of their own half. Postecoglou sent on Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur to replace wingers Johnson and Heung-min Son with James Maddison pushed to the left wing as the Spurs boss looked for control but there was no respite.
Forster lost a ball early in the second half and another Agkun volley went wide. Osimhen headed a good chance wide and was then thwarted again by the Tottenham goalkeeper who blocked another with his feet.
Then, on the hour, Lankshear was sent off for a second yellow card and somehow Spurs regained a lead, substitute Solanke getting ahead of his marker to turn Pedro Porro’s low cross over the line with an elegant move finished behind his supporting leg.
Mauro Icardi had a goal disallowed for offside, but Postecoglou threw in more veteran players and his 10 men finished the game in the lead.
