Osimhen Fires Blanks as Jhon Duran Saves Fenerbahçe on the Death

Duro Ikhazuagbe

Fenerbahçe’s Jhon Duran scored a 95th minute equalizer on Monday evening to deny Galatasaray victory in a thrilling  Istanbul Derby.

Nigeria’s Victor Osimhen who is still recuperating from a hamstring injury he copped on duty for the Super Eagles in a World Cup final playoff clash with DR Congo last month, defied medics as he was in action for all of 89 minutes but failed to find the back of the net in the clash with bitter rivals Fenerbahçe.

Former Manchester City’s Leroy Sane fired Galatasaray into the lead in the 27th minute when he navigated through the Fenerbahçe midfield and struck a low shot that deflected off  central defender Jayden Oosterewolde into the net.

But with the clock ticking to end of the first half, Fenerbahçe had a chance to equalise when En-Nesyri’s strike from a corner was initially ruled a goal, but VAR overturned it after it was deemed Skriniar handled the ball.

The second half was a tightly contested one, with both sides creating sporadic opportunities. Galatasaray however came close to doubling their lead in the 60th minute as another Sane’s low strike hit defender Milan Skriniar and drifted just wide of the post.

As Galatasaray fans were already celebrating the victory in the six minutes of stoppage time, former Aston Villa man, Jhon Duran, headed Levent’s cross  from the left beyond the reach of Uğurcan Çakır in goal for the visitors in the 95th minute to make it 1-1.

The draw in one of the world’s biggest football rivalries in recent years, left Galatasaray on 33 points from 14 games at the top of the Turkish Super Lig table, just one point ahead of Fenerbahçe on 32 points. Hot on the heels of the leaders are Trabzonspor on 31 points from same number of games.