Galatasaray head coach Okan Buruk has expressed satisfaction with the performance of Victor Osimhen, Mauro Icardi and other players of the squad after their 5-1 rout of Eyupspor on Friday, SportPremi reports.
The Turkish champions continued to lead from the front with another impressive win that increases their gap at the top to six points, ahead of Fenerbahce’s match later today.
- Read here: Osimhen shines as Galatasaray rout Eyupspor
Icardi grabbed the headlines with his treble, but Osimhen delivered another remarkable outing with his two assists in the clash.
The first was an exquisite long ball into the box, converted by Yunus Akgun, before he also assisted Icardi’s second of the night.
An own goal from Jerome Onguene completed the scoring for the Lions, while the visitors grabbed a consolation through Metehan Altunbas.
Galatasaray are up again Italian side Juventus in their next match on Tuesday night in the UEFA Champions League playoff round first leg, eyeing qualification for the Round of 16.
Buruk reacts to Galatasaray’s rout of Eyupspor
Speaking after the match, Buruk was impressed with his side’s performance as they eased to a comfortable win, while he also singled out Osimhen and Icardi for praise.
“Initially, Icardi’s goals. Icardi and Osimhen played together. Osimhen’s 2 assists are important. When two strikers play, one of them was in the penalty area and the other winger entered the penalty area, Yunus did this last week. Barış was with Osimhen in the penalty area at the first goal last week”, Buruk said.
“When you enter the penalty area in the middle from the side, especially the opposite winger has such an advantage. It was one of the things we wanted. It has been successful for us in this sense for two weeks.
The rising performances should also be said. Icardi’s training and match performances went up. He came out of a very long injury. There is a big difference between November and February. We are in a period when he is physically better. Home match. According to the opponent’s formation, we actually planned two striker pressures on the way to the front field pressures”, he continued.
“Today, when we looked at the number of passes made by the opponent in his own half of the field, we thought that if we did the front field pressure well, we would enter the position here with the balls we won. We have applied our idea of starting a double striker not only through the players, but also according to the formation of the opponent and the understanding of the game.
Hopefully, we will continue on our way to Europe, have a lot of matches and be able to use this rotation in the best way. All of them are important and valuable to me. This race will also benefit Galatasaray. It will be an important return for Galatasaray to have a rival for every player”, Buruk concluded.
