harry kewell was the hero of the night in istanbul as his header earned the turkish champions a narrow victory against their greek counterparts.
harry kewell was the hero in istanbul as his goal earned turkish champions galatasaray aş a narrow uefa cup victory against greek counterparts olympiacos cfp. glancing header kewell's goal was enough to give michael skibbe's side all three points against ernesto valverde's men at a packed ali sami yen stadium. the australian scored what proved to be the winner from lincoln's 25th-minute corner, evading marker didier domi at the near post to glance a downward header past antonis nikopolidis.
home pressure both teams went into the group b fixture desperate to make amends for missing out on the uefa champions league, and the hosts took the early initiative, with kewell prominent. arda turan headed wide from a 20th-minute lincoln corner and kewell dragged a shot off-target when well placed two minutes later.
olympiacos constrained the 30-year-old made amends not long after by opening the scoring, and sabri sarıoğlu then tested nikopolidis with a powerful long-range drive which the visiting keeper parried for a corner. olympiacos struggled to gain meaningful possession and diogo looked an isolated figure up front, with little service coming from argentinian duo luciano galletti and fernando belluschi.
into the wall galletti had a decent opportunity to get his team back into the game on the stroke of half-time but fired his free-kick into the wall. galatasaray resumed control after the interval, anastasios pantos clearing off the line from milan baroš before lincoln blasted the rebound over the bar from close range.
late flurry the brazilian should have added to the scoreline but was thwarted by nikopolidis and then the woodwork. olympiacos substitute darko kovačević had a golden chance to equalise but headed belluschi's free-kick just wide. it was then diogo's turn to miss as the brazilian headed agonisingly past the upright from a vassilis torosidis long ball as galatasaray held on.
