Three Winners and Three Losers as nine-man Brugge sneak a point against Galatasaray

In a baffling evening of football, Galatasaray and Club Brugge played out a 1-1 draw in the Turk Telekom Stadium.

Galatasaray scored early and held onto that lead through luck and some poor finishing from Brugge until a madcap stoppage time period that saw one goal and two red cards. Who were the winners and losers?

Winner: Krepin Diatta

All night Krepin Diatta had looked Brugge’s best bet to score a goal. Their hero from the Bernabeu upset Emmanuel Dennis was shockingly poor and so the attacking burden was nearly all on Diatta. For most of the game it didn’t look like he was going to be able to rescue his side.

Then in stoppage time he cut in from the right flank with real drive and purpose and pinged a fine strike into the bottom corner of the net. The shot took a deflection but the intent and confidence from Diatta was magnificent and exactly what Brugge needed.

Loser: Krepin Diatta

Unfortunately for Diatta, the sheer joy of celebrating that equaliser overcame him. The young Senegalese striker ran away from goal swinging his shirt over his head, and in the process he earned himself a second yellow card.

⚽️ 90+2': Krépin Diatta
🟥 90+3': Krépin Diatta
🟥 90+3': Clinton Mata

An absolutely bonkers end to the game as Club Brugge equalise against Galatasaray in the last-minute before two players receive a second yellow card.

Galatasaray 1-1 Club Brugge pic.twitter.com/PwYlB5jLF9

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Whilst it felt really harsh to censure a 20-year-old for expressing joy, it was an absurdly foolish thing for Diatta to do and it seriously hampers Brugge’s chances of getting anything from matchday six when they have to travel to play a resurgent Real Madrid.

Loser: Clinton Mata

Whilst you could perhaps forgive Diatta for his lapse in judgement given that he is 20 and just scored the goal which keeps Brugge in the driving seat for a Europa League spot, the same cannot be said for Clinton Mata.

The Angolan is 27 years old and should know better than to flying-kick the corner flag in two. Mata protested the red, and again it probably was a harsh second yellow, but when you’re 27 you really ought to know better.

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Winner: Adem Buyuk

Galatasaray came into matchday five having failed to score a goal. They bet big on Falcao in the summer and he’s been injured basically the whole time. Adem Buyuk had yet to get going as an apt replacement, but tonight that all changed.

After a beautiful multi-pass move saw Galatasaray move the ball from back-to-front and side-to-side, a low cross came into Buyuk. It was just behind him, but he controlled the ball and then on the turn absolutely pinged it into the far corner of the net. A gorgeous goal, one that would have been a fitting match-winner if his team-mates could have aided him.

Loser: David Okereke

You could honestly have put any Brugge player besides Diatta here because they were all so profligate in front of the Gala goal, but Okereke is unquestionably guilty of the worst possible miss of the night.

With 10 minutes left of normal time Brugge were still searching for their equaliser and put together a nice attack on the left. The ball was worked into left-back Federico Ricca who deftly flicked the ball a couple of yards behind the Galatasaray defence as they stepped up, putting Okreke clean through. The angle was favourable, and yet Okereke managed to dig the ball out and drive it wide. Shameful.

Winner: Real Madrid

Los Blancos have had a rough go of things in the Champions League. They got whooped by PSG on matchday one and held at home by Brugge on matchday two. They beat up on the terrible Galatasaray in their double header which gave them a good chance, but they now had to face PSG at home and knew that a defeat combined with a Brugge win could make life very tricky as the two sides face-off on matchday six.

Except Brugge completely and utterly failed to get the win. Even with the late equaliser, it still wasn’t enough and Madrid already qualified before their daunting match-up against PSG. The confidence that will give them will not only help them against the Parisians but means they can fully rest and rotate their men in Belgium on matchday six.