ruthless leverkusen rout galatasaray published: thursday 21 february 2008, 21.59cet
bayer 04 leverkusen 5-1 galatasaray sk (agg: 5-1) an early three-goal burst set leverkusen on their way to a round of 16 date with hamburger sv.
an early three-goal burst was more than enough for bayer 04 leverkusen to advance to the uefa cup round of 16 as they completed a convincing 5-1 victory over galatasaray as.
hamburg test following last week's goalless draw in istanbul, sergej barbarez scored either side of a stefan kiessling effort to put the hosts three up by the midway point in the first half. karim haggui made it 4-0 in the 55th minute and bernd schneider converted a penalty to make it five, before galatasaray's ahmed apimah barusso fired a consolation goal from the spot with three minutes remaining. michael skibbe's leverkusen will now face fellow bundesliga outfit hamburger sv.
barbarez breakthrough some 5,000 turkish fans turned up looking for an away win, and leverkusen had cause for concern with benedikt fernandez deputising between the posts for the injured rené adler. despite that, the hosts wasted no time in going ahead when kiessling sent a high cross into the box for the unmarked barbarez to head his first goal in this season's competition with 12 minutes gone.
kiessling form skibbe's side doubled their advantage just a minute later. schneider sent a beautiful pass on to kiessling, who looped the ball over onrushing galatasaray keeper orkun uşak and poked it over the goalline for his sixth effort in eight uefa cup outings. barbarez struck again in the 22nd minute when he sent a first-time volley into the corner following a fine ball by tranquillo barnetta.
penalty exchange galatasaray's german coach karl-heinz feldkamp tried to inject some rhythm into his team's play by bringing on lincoln at the break, but leverkusen struck again on 55 minutes when orkun uşak fumbled schneider's free-kick and haggui pounced on the loose ball. and schneider made it 5-0 six minutes later, converting a penalty after kiessling had been felled by servet çetin. the only bright spot for the 1999/00 winners was barusso's spot-kick at the other end, following haggui's handball.
