Besides the bragging rights, a lot is riding on tomorrow’s “intercontinental Derby” between Galatasaray and Fenerbache.
Defending champions Galatasaray remain on course for a third straight Turkish championship as they are six points clear of closest rivals Fenerbache.
Fenerbache therefore know that victory at their bitter rivals will close this gap to three points.
Against the backdrop of complaints of poor officiating in Turkey,a foreign referee will handle tomorrow’s derby, which is the 402nd meeting between the two Istanbul giants.
To fire their team, Fenerbache have promised the squad a bonus of Five Million Euros if they won the derby.
Fenerbache are on the up after they qualified for the Europa League Round of 16 after they eliminated Anderlecht, while Galatasaray crashed out of the same competition at the hands of Dutch club AZ Alkmaar.
Galatasaray’s biggest trump card in the derby will be Victor Osimhen, who was transferred on loan from Italian team Napoli and has carried his team with the goals he scored in the absence of injured star Mauro Icardi.
The 26-year-old Super Eagles star has played in a total of 25 official matches, 18 in the Super Lig and seven in the UEFA Europa League, and scored 20 goals.
He has scored 14 of these goals in the league and six in Europe.
Osimhen is also in third place in the race for top scorers in the Super Lig.
He has impacted on both derbies against Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş.
The striker, who celebrated a goal in the Beşiktaş match, also made an assist against Fenerbahçe in a 3-1 win.
Looking at the last 10 matches before tomorrow’s clash, Galatasaray have the upper hand.
In the last 10 matches played between the arch-rivals, nine of which were in the league and one in the Super Cup, the Lions won 5 times, one by default, while the Canaries defeated their opponents three times. 2 matches ended in a draw.
The last match between the two teams was played at Fenerbache and Galatasaray won 3-1.
Kick-off tomorrow is 6pm.
