tromsø triumphant in istanbul published: friday 30 september 2005, 0.40cet
the norwegian hopefuls achieved a superb result in turkey to reach the group stage.
tromsø il staged a uefa cup upset as they completed a 2-1 aggregate victory against turkish giants galatasaray sk with a 1-1 draw in istanbul to claim their place in the group stage. bernier boost the tippeligaen side travelled to istanbul with a one-goal lead from the first leg a fortnight ago but patrice bernier's first-half strike changed the face of the tie and despite hakan şükür's second-half goal for galatasaray, it was tromsø who achieved a famous triumph.
attacking intent the visitors started positively with lars iver strand testing colombian goalkeeper faryd mondragón inside three minutes and it was clear tromsø were not content to try and absorb the inevitable pressure. the norwegian side suffered a setback on ten minutes when defender morten pedersen went off injured, which seemed to give the turkish side a sudden boost in confidence.
hirschfeld heroics lars hirschfeld had to be on his toes to save a necati ates drive, while ümit karan was also denied thanks to fine work from the tromsø custodian. ümit then hit the post on 22 minutes with a powerful shot and just seven minutes later marek heinz also struck the frame of the goal. but with 33 minutes on the clock the norwegian side took the lead against the run of play as bernier drilled a shot unerringly into the net from the edge of the penalty area.
substitute strikes galatasaray came out for the second half with renewed vigour and necati ates and hasan sas both went close. the home side threw men forward and with 13 minutes remaining hakan sükür, a first-half substitute, latched onto sabri sarıoglu's cross to give the turkish team late hope.
hasan sas effort tromsø's defending became more and more desperate and with two minutes left benjamin kibebe gave away a free-kick in a dangerous position, but hasan sas fired his effort straight at hirschfeld and the norwegian side were through.
