Galatasaray landed in Portugal with fire in their eyes, and holes in their lineup.
The Turkish champions touched down in Lisbon for the Champions League opener against Sporting at Jose Alvalade, but coach Okan Buruk’s plane carried far more questions than answers.
Victor Osimhen, Mario Lemina and Wilfried Singo will watch from Istanbul. All three were struck down by injury — Osimhen and Lemina against Basaksehir in the Super Lig, Singo in training — and their absence rips through the spine of a side that reached last season’s last 16. Five more, including Kaan Ayhan, missed the UEFA cut.
It leaves Buruk gambling. 21-year-old loanee El Chadaille Bitshiabu could be thrown straight into the deep end for a debut against a Sporting attack that has already scored 14 goals in five league games this term.
Yet drama follows Galatasaray to Lisbon. New star Rafael Leao returns to the club that raised him. He joined Sporting’s academy in 2012, broke into the first team in 2017, then left for Lille. Now, wearing yellow and red, he faces his boyhood club — and his 17-year-old brother Paulo Simao, still in Sporting’s U23s.
The omens are cruel. Galatasaray have won just 1 of their last 15 European away games, and only 1 of their last 10 Champions League openers. Sporting, quarterfinalists last year, arrive brimming with confidence and second in Portugal.
For Galatasaray, this is match 341 in Europe. History waits. But so does a Lisbon test without its talisman.
Will Buruk’s wounded lions roar, or crumble? Kickoff on TRT 1 and Tabii.
