Preview: Galatasaray vs. Fenerbahce
After being crowned Super Lig champions in midweek, Galatasaray host bitter rivals Fenerbahce in both side’s final game of the season on Sunday.
Fener came up short in second, but they do have the potential for domestic honours still in next week’s cup final.
It had been a long time coming, but Galatasaray have finally won their first title since the 2018-19 season, despite a late charge from both Fenerbahce and Besiktas.
Title number 23 extends their current record of the most Super Lig crowns and sends them into Champions League qualifying next season, having not played European football at all this season following their shocking 13th-placed finish a year ago.
A 4-1 win away in the capital against Ankaragucu was enough to clinch the league for Okan Buruk’s side, with Mauro Icardi playing a big role in them getting over the line.
The Paris Saint-Germain loanee netted a third consecutive brace in the win on Tuesday, taking his tally for the season to 21 in just 23 games.
That was helped by a phenomenal run of form during the final stretch where Icardi has scored 13 goals in his last nine outings.
Despite a mini wobble by Gala in late April that brought their two closest challengers back into the title race, they responded excellently with four straight wins to confirm top spot.
With the pressure off and the title lift to come here, Buruk will hope his side can replicate their 3-0 thrashing away to Fener in January to provide the perfect send off to the season.
For Fenerbahce, all attention will now turn to next weekend’s cup final with local rivals Istanbul Basaksehir, for which they are heavy favourites to win.
For a few weeks, it looked as though they were capable of catching Galatasaray, but draws to relegation-threatened Giresunspor and Istanbulspor killed off their hopes.
Since defeat at home to Besiktas, they won all other six games in that period, but it was not enough, as they come into their final game five points adrift, with the gap at the World Cup break being too much to make up.
It means they remain without a title since 2013-14, and four behind Gala, as they patiently wait for title number 20 which would add a fourth star above the club crest.
Their incredible attacking performances have still continued though, as they still lead the way in terms of goals scored in the division with 84, having netted in every league game since that 3-0 defeat in the reverse back on January 8th.
Galatasaray Turkish Super Lig form:
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Fenerbahce Turkish Super Lig form:
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Fenerbahce form (all competitions):
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We say: Galatasaray 1-1 Fenerbahce
With Galatasaray potentially in party mode and Fenerbahce looking ahead to next weekend’s cup final, both sides may be a level below their usual best, despite the enormity of the fixture.