Galatasaray drops further in Turkish Süper Lig with Trabzonspor loss

ISTANBUL

Galatasaray’s woeful Turkish Süper Lig season hit a new low on Jan. 23 when the Istanbul club lost 2-1 to leader Trabzonspor at home.

Galatasaray made a hopeful start to the match and went ahead in the 30th minute when Romanian midfielder Alexandru Cicaldau successfully converted a penalty shot.

However, Trabzonspor held on to the game until the very end, leveling the score with a goal from Greek midfielder Anastasios Bakasetas in the 84th minute, while Bosnian midfielder Edin Visca, who joined the Black Sea side from Başakşehir on Jan. 5, scored another in stoppage time to give his team 16th win of the season.

The loss pushed Galatasaray further down in the standings, with the team sitting in the 15th spot with 27 points in 23 games, just three points above the relegation zone.

The club is also in its worst situation after 23 games since the inauguration of Turkish professional football’s top flight in 1959.

Galatasaray is on a four-game losing streak in the league and has lost all its three games under coach Domenec Torrent, who replaced Fatih Terim earlier this month.

However, the Spaniard was happy with his players’ performances despite the loss and was hopeful that things would improve.

“We can say that football was not fair to us today,” he said after the match.

“I have nothing bad to say to the players. We had the chance to score many times, we defended very well, but the result was not as we wanted. We clearly showed that we were playing to win the match.”

Torrent said they should focus on positive sides.

“We cannot focus on negative things such as we may be relegated,” he said.

“We have to start earning points right away, we have to keep it going. I have good feelings for today, and I think we are on the right track.”

Trabzonspor coach Abdullah Avcı, on the other hand, is happy with his team’s current position, as the club has a nine-point lead over its closest rival, Konyaspor.

But the experienced coach is also somewhat worried about complacency.

“Today, we took another big step towards a happy ending, but we have not won anything yet,” he said.

“There are 15 more weeks until the league ends. Trabzonspor will be on the field to win, to do better regardless of the points difference.”

Meanwhile, Konyaspor, who won 1-0 at Altay on Jan. 23, has the chance to cut the gap with Trabzonspor to six with a game in hand.

Elsewhere in Week 23 matches, Beşiktaş and Fenerbahçe were held to 1-1 draw in away games by Sivasspor and Malatyaspor, respectively.

Adana Demirspor won 5-0 at home over Karagümrük and Göztepe won 2-1 at Başakşehir on Jan. 22.

In Jan. 23’s game, Hatayspor and Rizespor played a goalless draw, Kasımpaşa won 3-1 over Kayserispor, Alanyaspor beat Giresunspor 3-12 in an away game and there were no goals in the Antalyaspor vs Gaziantep clash.