Barcelona come from behind to thrash Galatasaray in Istanbul

Barcelona came from behind to beat Galatasaray 4-1 in the Champions League on Tuesday, silencing a loud crowd at RAMS Park in Istanbul.

Hansi Flick’s side tried to settle early by controlling possession.

However, they went a goal down in the 28th minute from Galatasaray’s first real attack. Rafael Leao burst down the left wing and cut the ball back for Aleksey Batrakov.

His effort deflected off Joao Cancelo and nestled in the bottom corner.

It came seconds after Barcelona had a penalty appeal turned down.

Galatasaray thought they had made it 2-0 six minutes later when Baris Alper Yilmaz diverted Victor Osimhen’s header past Joan Garcia.

However, VAR ruled the goal out for a narrow offside. Barcelona leveled two minutes before half-time through Cancelo, who made up for his earlier deflection.

Dani Olmo’s touch sent the ball into his path, and he curled a lovely strike past goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir.

The visitors dominated after the break and scored twice in quick succession.

Fermin Lopez headed in a Lamine Yamal cross in the 50th minute to put Barcelona in front.

Three minutes later, Yamal showed superb close control before setting up Anthony Gordon to make it 3-1.

Yamal finished the night with two assists and helped set up the fourth goal.

Gabriel Jesus nudged his cross into the path of substitute Karim Adeyemi, who fired in from the left side of the box in the 65th minute.

Barcelona’s attack has been in remarkable form under Flick, with 84 goals in 28 Champions League matches.

That works out at three goals per game, the best rate in the competition since 1992-93 for any club with at least 20 games under one manager.

The Catalan club now has six points from two games, after beating Feyenoord 5-1 in their league phase opener.

Next up for Flick’s side is a trip to face Paris St-Germain on Tuesday, October 20.

Galatasaray, who top the Turkish Super Lig, have now lost both of their Champions League games after a 3-1 defeat to Sporting CP last month.

They will look for their first win when they face Lille on Wednesday, October 21.