ANKARA
Turkey's Istanbulite football giants, Galatasaray and Fenerbahce took advantage in Ziraat Turkey Cup after beating their opponents in semi-final first leg.
Galatasaray, who played against Sivasspor at their home on Thursday, showed dominance and triumphed with 4 goals.
Sivasspor, who tried to pull an upset under their manager Sergen Yalcin, managed to take the lead, when John Utaka found the net at 9th minute.
Galatasaray were able to recover from the 0-1 deficit quickly, at 32nd minute the yellow-reds equlized the score thanks to right-footed Sabri Sarioglu's improbable strike with his left foot.
From then, Galatasaray showed pure dominance, at 35th minute Felipe Melo's header from Wesley Sneijder's corner gave them 2-1 lead.
In the second half, Galatasaray continued to find the net, marksman Wesley Sniejder stroke a beatiful free-kick shot at 64th minute, and midfielderer Selcuk Inan gave the "Cim-Bom" a 4-1 lead at 77th minute.
The second leg of Galatasaray-Sivasspor semi-final will be played in Sivas, on May 19th, at 20.30 (Turkish time).
In the other semi-final match Fenerbahce have beaten Bursaspor 2-1 in the first leg of the Ziraat Turkey Cup semi final and gained a good advantage with the away win on Tuesday night.
Bursaspor dominated the first 10 minutes and produced good chances, but home side forwards could not score the early goal they pushed hard for.
However, a strike by Nigerian forward Emmanuel Emmenike put Fenerbahce up after 26 minutes.
Bellushi scored for Bursaspor just six minutes later when his comfortable header went into the back of the net after Fenerbahce goalkeeper Volkan Demirel’s initial effort to block a shot from inside the box failed.
Visitors Fenerbahce took the lead once again two minutes after the equalizer with a spectacular free kick from Bruno Alves from outside the box: 2-1.
Efforts from both sides failed to produce more goals in the rest of the first half.
The second half started with a great chance for Fenerbahce to make the goal difference two, but Emmenike’s one-to-one effort was saved by Bursaspor goal keeper Harun Tekin after 47 minutes.
Cedric Bakambu missed a good opportunity for Bursaspor when his shot went narrowly wide after 59 minutes.
Bursaspor substitute Emre Tasdemir wasted another chance to equalize for his team after 74 minutes.
Referee Cuneyt Cakir booked Fenerbahce goal keeper Volkan Demirel for passing time, just before he denied another effort from young substitute Enes Unal, with just nine minutes remaining to the final whistle.
Fenerbahce kept the lead to the end and won the first leg of the semi final as Brazilian striker Fernandao from the home side missed a great chance to equalize with five minutes remaining on the clock.
The second leg will be played in Istanbul on May 21 at 20.30 (Turkish time)
