Galatasaray 0-2 Atletico Madrid: Man City defender makes impressive debut despite defeat

Galatasaray suffered a 2-0 defeat at the Türk Telekom Arena in their opening Group B Champions League game of the season.

Hamza Hamzaoğlu started with an unusual lineup deploying centre-back Hakan Balta as a defensive midfielder with Emre Çolak in midfield and gave on-loan Manchester City defender Jason Denayer his debut – and first ever Champions League appearance.

The 4-5-1 experiment failed miserably in the opening half-an-hour and Galatasaray were caught wanting in defence as Atleti counter-attacked with ease carving up the Lions back-four.

Griezman put the Madrid based side ahead on 18 minutes with a well-place shot from just inside the penalty area.

The Frenchman doubled the away sides lead just even minutes later making the most of the Istanbul giants shambolic defending from set-pieces.

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Hamzaoğlu brought on Umut Bulut for the ineffective Emre Çolak after half-an-hour and the hard working Turkish international helped steady the ship as Galatasaray kept held of possession better.

Yasin Öztekin came on for Sabri Sarıoğlu during the half-time break. The experienced right-back gave a woeful performance in the first half and Denayer replaced him positionally with Öztekin taking up a role on the right flank.

Galatasaray performed better in the second half especially down the right-flank where Denayer and Öztekin combined well to create a few chances.

The Lions came close on a number of occasions but were unable to find a way through an assiduous Atleti defence.

Galatasaray take on Benfica next at the Türk Telekom Arena. The Portuguese giants beat Astana 2-0 in their opening game.

Galatasaray 0-2 Atletico Madrid