Galatasaray become Turkish League leaders after win

ISTANBUL

Galatasaray have become the leaders of the Turkish Spor Toto Super League after beating a challenging Gaziantepspor team 1-0 in front of its fans on Sunday evening.

Galatasaray, the Istanbul giants, increased the pressure for Gaziantepspor starting from the beginning of the game, but could not find the dead lock-breaking goal until the 85th minute.

Defender Hakan Balta, who had not scored in the league until Sunday, scored the header after a corner with five minutes to go in the game.

With the result, Galatasaray now have a league-leading 61 points. However, third-placed Besiktas (58 pts) has not played yet and they will meet with Karabukspor on Monday.

Hakan Balta's game-winning goal recorded was as the 200th goal in Turk Telekom Arena, Galatasaray's stadium. 

Galatasaray managed not to concede a goal after 10 league games.

Felipe Melo, who has returned in the line-up after a 69-day lasting injury, was booked a yellow card and will not play next week.

 

Remaining fixtures for the 28th week:

Monday

Besiktas v Karabukspor

 

Current standings are as follows:

Rank	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts	+/-
1	Galatasaray	28	19	4	5	52	34	61	+18
2	Fenerbahce	28	18	6	4	47	21	60	+26
3	Besiktas	27	18	4	5	47	25	58	+22
4	Bursaspor	28	13	8	7	56	37	47	+19
5	Istanbul Basaksehir	28	12	11	5	39	23	47	+16
6	Trabzonspor	28	12	11	5	51	41	47	+10
7	Mersin Idmanyurdu	28	11	6	11	45	40	39	+5
8	Torku Konyaspor	28	10	8	10	26	34	38	-8
9	Genclerbirligi	28	9	9	10	41	38	36	+3
10	Gaziantepspor	28	10	5	13	25	37	35	-12
11	Akhisar Belediyespor	28	8	9	11	36	43	33	-7
12	Kasimpasa	28	8	8	12	44	57	32	-13
13	Sivasspor	28	8	7	13	34	39	31	-5
14	Eskisehirspor	28	7	10	11	33	42	31	-9
15	Çaykur Rizespor	28	7	7	14	34	47	28	-13
16	Karabukspor	27	5	6	16	31	44	21	-13
17	Kayseri Erciyesspor	28	4	9	15	31	49	21	-18
18	Balikesirspor	28	4	8	16	34	55	20	-21