Galatasaray pushed Juventus to the brink of elimination from the Champions League in a wild 5-2 comeback win in Istanbul on Tuesday.
Trailing 2-1 at halftime in the playoff match at RAMS Park, the Turkish giant powered back after the break. Noa Lang scored two of Galatasaray’s four second-half goals to stun two-time European champion Juve.
Galatasaray takes a three-goal lead into the second leg in Turin next week with the chance to advance to the round of 16 for the first time since 2014.
Juventus responded well going a goal down through Gabriel Sara after 15 minutes, with Teun Koopmeiners equalizing a minute later and adding another before halftime.
But Galatasaray took control in the second half. Lang leveled four minutes after the restart, scoring from close range.
Davinson Sanchez gave the home team the lead on the hour and Juventus’ challenge was made all the more difficult when Juan Cabal was sent off 22 minutes after coming on as a halftime substitute.
Lang got his second when capitalizing on sloppy play from Juventus’ defense in its own box and Sacha Boey drove in from the angle in the 86th.
Real Madrid and Benfica were playing each other again later Tuesday after their epic Champions League showdown last month.
A 4-2 win for Benfica against Madrid in the last round of games in the league phase produced one of the most dramatic finishes in the competition’s history.
A goal deep into added time by goalkeeper Anatoly Trubin secured Benfica’s place in the playoffs. Defeat for Madrid, meanwhile, meant the record 15-time European champion missed out on automatic qualification for the round of 16.
The mastermind behind that win for Benfica was former Madrid coach José Mourinho.
He had the chance to inflict more pain on his old team in the first leg of their playoff series at Benfica’s Stadium of Light.
“I don’t think it takes a miracle for Benfica to eliminate Real Madrid,” Mourinho said, although he did acknowledge his team would have to be close to perfect to advance.
Defending champion Paris Saint-Germain is playing at Monaco in the playoffs on Tuesday. Galatasaray hosts Juventus and Borussia Dortmund is at home against Atalanta.
