Bayern Munich soaked up intense pressure from Galatasaray for more than 70 minutes before striking twice to carve out a 3-1 victory on Tuesday that kept them firmly top of their Champions League Group A.
With the victory, Bayern extended their record win streak in the Champions League group stage to 16 games. The German champions have also gone a record 37 games unbeaten in the group stage.
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The Bavarians top their group on nine points, with Galatasaray in second on four.
Bayern unusually found themselves on the back foot as Galatasaray carved out 20 attacks to their six with the two sides locked at 1-1 after goals in the opening half hour.
However, Bayern striker Harry Kane scored in the 73rd minute and Jamal Musiala added another six minutes later to snap their opponents’ 23-match unbeaten run across all competitions.
“It’s my first time in this stadium and I’m just about getting my hearing back now,” Kane said. “Thankfully, we were able to come through it today.
“It’s a really important win. This is a really tough place to come. It made things difficult for us, especially in the first half.
“In the second half we were a bit more calm, better on the ball and took our chances. To have nine points after three games is really important.”
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The Turks, brimming with confidence from their win at Manchester United in the previous matchday, showed no signs of nerves against their more illustrious opponents and had a chance with Mauro Icardi after four minutes.
The visitors silenced the fiery home crowd with Kingsley Coman rifling in for the lead in the eighth minute. Goalkeeper Sven Ulreich, however, had to come to the rescue only a minute later, spectacularly palming a Kerem Aktürkoglu shot wide.
In a frantic first half, Akturkoglu then missed a golden chance to level when Ulreich cleared a cutback into his path but the 25-year-old fired over the bar with the keeper beaten.
The hosts’ pressure, however, paid off in the 30th when Icardi was brought down in the box. The Argentine coolly chipped his Panenka-style penalty into the middle of the goal as Ulreich dived to the side.
In an equally pacy start to the second half, Galatasaray had the lion’s share of chances once more with Bayern defending desperately.
The hosts, however, started running out of steam after failing to score again and Bayern grew in confidence, with Kane attempting to flick in with a backheel before slotting in on the rebound in the 73rd.
That goal unlocked the game for Bayern, who were missing several players through injury, and they added another with Musiala to seal their hard-earned win.
Manchester United face FC Copenhagen in the other group game later.
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