Late Comeback Earns Lions Point From Anderlecht In CL

It takes a team to play a football game, but defender Aurelien Chedjou was a key figure in Galatasaray's coming back to snatch one point in its UEFA Champions League match against RSC Anderlecht on Tuesday evening.

In the second minute of added time, the Cameroon defender received a pass from Bruma and worked it around American defender Sacha Kljestan on Anderlecht's goal line. Running at the net, Chedjou drew keeper Davy Roef to the side and dropped a pass back to striker Burak Yılmaz, who slotted it past three defenders into the empty net.

Just minutes before and on the other end of the pitch, Chedjou relieved a hungry Anderlecht offense of the ball in a dangerous attack that could have left Galatasaray two goals behind.

“It is, of course, much better than no points but much worse than three,” Chedjou said.

“By ending the game in the way we did, it is almost like a win. We conceded the goal in a period when we were at our best. We need to be better organized. We need to fix our little mistakes and we'll be a better team,” Galatasaray coach Cesare Prandelli said, adding that his greatest regret was that his players were booed at home.

Indeed, Burak's last gasp strike salvaged a point, but the Turkey striker and company also made costly errors throughout the match. While one-on-one with Roef in the box in the 70th minute, he tapped the ball to the right to dodge an oncoming defender but opted to fall rather than shoot.

In the 88th minute, he sprinted down the right with the ball and arrived at the goal, but rather than shoot, he sent the ball in the vague direction of Umut, who was well marked by the defense and could not receive the pass.

Falling behind

Man of the match Dennis Praet had put Anderlecht ahead in the 52nd minute, after collecting a Steven Defour cross on the left and dodging both Veysel Sarı and Selçuk İnan to shoot from just outside the box. The ball slipped past Fernando Muslera's outstretched gloves and ricocheted off the left post and into the net. Minutes later, Serbian forward Aleksandar Mitrovic missed his chance to widen the gap when he received a pass on the right and shot wide of the net.

The Belgian side began to focus on defense, leaving Galatasaray's offense, bolstered by second-half subs Bruma and Umut Bulut, space to work the ball around in the middle of the pitch.

Portuguese striker Bruma, who replaced Goran Pandev, missed a glaring opportunity as he ran onto an Alex Telles cross in the box in the 58th. He failed to connect as he slid to the ground. Once more he brought the ball right onto the goal line and shot at an impossible angle.

Anderlecht coach Besnik Hasi had been forced to use up a sub early as Bram Nuytinck went out with an injured toe in the 23rd minute. Matias Suarez came on. At that point, Galatasaray found some attacking mojo, working the ball into two attempts within the next several minutes.

Moving on

Hasi was not keen on writing the Turkish club off. “Galatasaray are at the beginning of their league season, they haven't played many games and they have a new coach. Maybe they need some time,” he said.

At least the Turkish club ended up with a point. In the other Group D match, Borussia Dortmund scored two goals within a nightmarish three minutes for Arsenal to walk away with three points and the group D leadership.

But this is just one of six matches each team will have to play. Galatasaray will have to play Arsenal in England on Oct. 1, and if the Lions lose there, the one point they snatched out from under Anderlecht's nose will seem inadequate.

“The objective is still to advance, but we were sure that we would win and unfortunately we saw that Anderlecht is not an easy team. We know that the favorites are Arsenal and Dortmund,” Chedjou said, adding, “Now we have to mobilize, believe in ourselves and work hard.”

Rachel Mollman (Cihan/Today's Zaman)