Barcelona come from behind to beat Galatasaray and go top of Champions League

Barcelona recovered from an early deficit to beat Galatasaray 4-1 and move top of the Champions League league phase after two rounds.

Galatasaray took the lead through Aleksei Batrakov in the 28th minute and appeared to have doubled their advantage five minutes later, but Victor Osimhen’s effort was ruled out for offside following a video assistant referee review.

Barcelona levelled shortly before half-time when Joao Cancelo scored in the 43rd minute.

Fermin Lopez completed the turnaround five minutes after the restart, meeting an excellent cross from Lamine Yamal to put the visitors ahead.

Barcelona then extended their advantage three minutes later. Gordon collected the ball inside the area after a fine run and pass from Yamal before the Englishman placed his shot into the far corner.

Substitute Karim Adeyemi completed the scoring in the 65th minute, firing a powerful effort from inside the penalty area into the Galatasaray net.

Egyptian striker Hamza Abdelkarim was named among Barcelona’s substitutes but did not feature.

The result was Barcelona’s first victory in a match refereed by Italian official Marco Guida. Their previous two games under Guida had ended without a win.

The first was a 3-2 defeat by Belgian side Antwerp in the group stage of the 2022-23 Champions League in December 2022. The second came last season, when Barcelona drew 1-1 away to Newcastle United in the first leg of their last-16 tie.

Barcelona now have six points, level with English club Arsenal and Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon, but lead the standings on goal difference.

They have scored nine goals in the competition, following a 5-1 victory over Feyenoord in the opening round.

Galatasaray, meanwhile, have lost both of their matches. They began with a 3-1 defeat by Sporting Lisbon.

Barcelona’s remaining league-phase fixtures are against Manchester City at home, Paris Saint-Germain away, Aston Villa at home, Sporting Lisbon away, Como at home and Sabah Baku away.

Galatasaray will face Paris Saint-Germain away, Aston Villa at home, Feyenoord at home, Lille away, Stuttgart at home and AEK Athens away.