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Alexey Batrakov scored twice in the opening 15 minutes as Galatasaray beat Stuttgart 2-0 at RAMS Park on Tuesday, a result that gave the Turkish side its second consecutive win in the Champions League league phase.
Batrakov struck from close range in the 12th minute and added a second three minutes later. Stuttgart then spent much of the night pressing for a way back and was repeatedly denied by goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir and the woodwork.
The visitors had the game’s first big chance in the eighth minute. Maximilian Mittelstadt ran down the left and crossed to the back post, where Jamie Leweling side-footed a shot against the left-hand post. The ball rolled along the goal line and bounced off the other post, then stayed out.
Galatasaray took the lead four minutes later. Roland Sallai ran into the right side of the box and pulled the ball back, Jeff Chabot intercepted, and it fell to Batrakov, who rifled a strike into the roof of the net.
The second goal followed in the 15th minute. Davinson Sanchez found space on the right and threaded a pass to Batrakov, who raced onto it and slotted a finish through the legs of goalkeeper Fabian Bredlow from the right of the box. The assist was Sanchez’s first of this season’s competition.
Stuttgart’s two goals conceded inside the first 15 minutes are the most any team has let in over that stretch in this season’s Champions League, according to the match data.
Stuttgart rallied after the break but could not find a goal. Cakir tipped a 20-yard effort from Deniz Undav past the post in the 63rd minute and palmed away a shot from Chris Fuhrich two minutes later. Fuhrich, who had earlier curled an attempt narrowly past the upright, then appeared to score in the 76th minute.
The goal was ruled out after a VAR review. Undav had been offside in the build-up, having hit the woodwork from close range before the ball was played on to Fuhrich, who bent a shot into the bottom-right corner.
The visitors’ best late chance came in the 86th minute. Undav threaded a pass to substitute Dzenan Pejcinovic, who was one-on-one with Cakir, but the goalkeeper blocked the shot with his feet.
Stuttgart finished with 13 shots, five of them on target, for an expected goals figure of 1.78. Galatasaray also had 13 shots, with four on target, and an expected goals figure of 0.97.
Victor Osimhen had more attempts than any other player, with six, but did not score.
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The match was bad-tempered at times. Undav and Baris Alper Yilmaz grappled by the shirt on the touchline in the 38th minute, after Yilmaz and Fuhrich had a spat.
Both players were booked. VAR checked whether a red card was warranted, but both stayed on the pitch.
Referee Chris Kavanagh showed eight yellow cards in all. Five went to Stuttgart (Atakan Karazor, Undav, Yanik Spalt, Grischa Promel and Ramon Hendriks) and three to Galatasaray (Yilmaz, Sallai and Lucas Torreira).
The match began with a minute’s silence for CD Tenerife forward Jesus de Miguel, who died on Tuesday.
The win extended Galatasaray’s recovery after it beat Lille 4-2 on matchday three, its first victory of the league phase. Tuesday’s result also ended a poor run against German opposition.
Galatasaray had lost six of its previous seven Champions League games against German clubs, with its last win coming against Schalke 04 in March 2013. It had also failed to win any of its seven previous home games against German sides in the European Cup and Champions League, drawing four and losing three.
The Turkish side has now scored six first-half goals in four games this season. Only Aston Villa, with eight, and Paris Saint-Germain, with seven, have scored more.
Stuttgart came into the match unbeaten, with two wins and a draw from three games.
It had drawn 1-1 with Atletico Madrid on matchday three, when Leweling gave it the lead before Julian Alvarez equalised. Coach Sebastian Hoeness made three changes to his starting lineup, bringing in Bredlow, Karazor and Ermedin Demirovic. Angelo Stiller and Josha Vagnoman were out injured.
Okan Buruk made one change for Galatasaray, with Mario Lemina replacing Gabriel Sara.
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