Lamine Yamal hails Barcelona’s response after difficult Galatasaray test

Lamine Yamal said Barcelona knew they faced one of their toughest away matches before recovering from a first-half deficit to beat Galatasaray 4-1 in the second round of the league phase of the Champions League.

Galatasaray took the lead through Alexei Patrakov in the 28th minute, while a second effort from Victor Osimhen was ruled out for offside five minutes later.

Barcelona levelled shortly before half-time when Joao Cancelo scored in the 43rd minute, before taking control after the interval.

Fermin Lopez put the Spanish side ahead in the 50th minute, meeting an excellent cross from Yamal. Three minutes later, Yamal created the third goal, making an outstanding run before delivering the ball to Gordon inside the penalty area. The Englishman finished into the far corner.

Substitute Karim Adeyemi completed Barcelona’s comeback in the 65th minute, striking powerfully from inside the box to find the Turkish side’s net.

Reflecting on the move that led to Gordon’s goal, Yamal said: “The name of the move before Gordon’s goal? Perhaps I will call it a ‘near-completed rabona’. I do not know, but I executed it that way in that moment, and things went well. I created a goal for Gordon and, in the end, it was an effective move.”

Yamal also explained how Barcelona changed their approach at half-time after Galatasaray had made the match difficult.

“It was very positive to go into the break level, because the second goal they scored, which was disallowed, would have affected us a lot,” he said. “We spoke at half-time and agreed that we had to apply pressure from the start. Things went well.”

Despite the final margin, Yamal said the atmosphere and quality of Galatasaray’s team had made the fixture a demanding one for Barcelona.

“We knew we were playing in a very difficult stadium, one of the toughest venues we can play in,” he said. “We spoke in the dressing room about the way they press and the chanting from the stands. They also have a team with a great deal of quality.”

Barcelona’s victory came after Galatasaray had threatened to strengthen their advantage in the opening half, but the disallowed Osimhen goal and Cancelo’s equaliser allowed the visitors to regroup.

Egyptian forward Hamza Abdelkarim was named among Barcelona’s substitutes for the match.