Dries Mertens takes Galatasaray to Champions League 3rd round
Liam Garcia
Dailysports's expert
In the second leg of the UEFA Champions League second qualifying round, Istanbul's "Galatasaray" secured a 1-0 victory against Lithuanian side "Žalgiris" at their home ground, the "Türk Telekom Stadium" in Istanbul.
The only goal of the match was scored by Belgian forward Dries Mertens in the 31st minute.
In the first leg, the teams played to a 2-2 draw, and as a result, "Galatasaray" advanced to the third qualifying round, where they will face Slovenian club "Olimpija". In the second qualifying round, "Olimpija" defeated Bulgarian team "Ludogorets" (1:1, 2:1).
"Galatasaray" (Istanbul, Turkey) - "Žalgiris" (Vilnius, Lithuania) - 1:0 (1:0, 0:0) - first leg - 2:2
Goal: Mertens, 31 - 1:0
"Galatasaray": Muslera, Boey, Bardakçı, Nelson, Angelino, Sergiu Oliveira (Midtsjo, 69), Kutlu, Aktürkoglu (Ayhan, 89), Yılmaz (Bakambu, 79), Mertens (Morutan, 78), Dervişoğlu (Akgün, 46).
"Žalgiris": Gertmonas, Pavelic, Vukur, Hnid, Bopesu, Mamich (Vilhjalmsson, 59), Buff (Karashima, 74), Gorobsov, Kendysh (Verbitskas, 89), Golubickas, Kehinde.
Yellow cards: Bopesu (5), Kehinde (56), Mertens (62), Hnid (77), Ayhan (90).
