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Gelsenkirchen: Hamit Altintop scored a stunning 30-metre goal against his former club to set Galatasaray on the way to a 3-2 win at Schalke 04, which sent them into the Champions League quarter finals, on Tuesday.
The Turkish side went through 4-3 on aggregate after handing Schalke their first defeat in the competition.
“We definitely deserved it. We made a lot of mistakes in the second half and dropped back and they made it difficult,” Galatasaray’s Wesley Sneijder said after the match.
“We wanted to go for the third, but we didn’t do it and they kept pushing (until we scored a third late on). I think Schalke played well but with all our team spirit, it’s a deserved victory.”
Neustaedter gave Schalke a lead but Altintop pulled the Turkish side level in the 37th minute when he collected a free kick and scored with a shot which swerved away from Timo Hildebrand and went in off the post.
Burak Yilmaz stunned the hosts by putting Galatasaray ahead with a breakaway goal five minutes later, his eighth of the competition.
Michel Bastos levelled for Schalke 04 just after the hour but the Germans could not find the winner despite dominating the closing stages, with Umut Bulut snatching a win for Galatasaray in injury time.
Galatasaray started well with Didier Drogba shooting wide from outside the area in the fifth minute and he then saw a fierce left-foot effort palmed away by Hildebrand a minute later after Sneijder slipped the ball to him on the left.
(Reuters)
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