It certainly wasn’t the most delicious fixture—at least on
the surface of things—in Wednesday’s slate of Champions League affairs, but
Galatasaray vs. FC Astana proved to be one of, if not the most entertaining
clash of Match Day Two. Even Borat would have been proud.
Astana, the Kazakh side whose location on a world map is
every traveler/hipster/geography nerd’s wet dream (the capital city is closer
to Mongolia than it is to Ukraine; or better yet, closer to Beijing than it is
to Rome), became the first side from the central Asian country to not only host
a UEFA Champions League group stage match, but to also win a point, after an
exciting 2-2 draw at the Astana Arena on Wednesday night.
The 30,000-seater stadium that first opened in 2009 was
rocking the millisecond both clubs first emerged from the dressing room, and
would only grow louder as the evening progressed. It should be noted that because
of the significant time difference between Kazakhstan and the vast majority of
Europe (London, for example, is five hours behind Astana), the match commenced
a full two hours and 45 minutes earlier than the rest of Wednesday’s games,
which translated to a local start time of 10:00 PM—well past the bedtime of
young Kazakhs wishing to root on their hometown heroes. Surely exceptions were
made for the children on this historic night though.
Galatasaray, who were in search of their first road
Champions League victory since March 2013—a nine-game stretch—might have been
forgiven for a lackluster performance under unfamiliar circumstances,
especially when you consider the near five-hour flight (or 61-hour drive for
any Cim-Bom faithful daring enough to
attempt the arduous haul) the club had to take to get there.
But it was Hamza Hamzaoğlu’s men who struck first, when the
most unassuming of players in Bilal Kisa uncorked a shot from about 30 yards
out that twisted and dipped before finally finding its way into the back of the
net past Astana keeper Nenad Eric in the 31st minute; a
unforgettable moment for the 32-year-old midfielder, who was making his
Champions League debut.
The Turkish giants took that 1-0 lead into the half, and
looked satisfied with playing behind the ball for the remainder of the match,
with Astana continuing to push men forward in the hopes of finding an equalizer
in the second half. It wasn’t long after a wasted opportunity by Foxi
Kéthévoama in the 66th minute when the home side finally found the
back of the next thanks to a fortuitous bounce off the leg of an unlucky Hakan
Balta whose own goal sent the Astana Arena into a frenzy.
It wouldn’t last long, however, as Eric allowed an own goal
nine minutes later after failing to fully save Sinan Gumus’ shot four minutes from
time; that put the visitors up one again. The home crowd didn’t despair though,
and almost as if from a fairytale, Astana, with the ceaseless, pulsating energy
of the crowd behind them, fought back and found yet another equalizer in the 89th
minute courtesy of a quite remarkable header by the Colombian Roger Cañas
(which was officially scored as a third-consecutive own goal—this one by the
Frenchman Lionel Carole, who barely helped the ball into the net) to unleash
the second Kazakh eruption of the night.
Minutes later, the final whistle sounded. Astana has secured
their precious point.
The reigning Kazakh Premier League champions still sit in
last place in their group, but are even with Galatasaray with four matches to
play. Two of those matches will come at home with back-to-back November
fixtures against Atlético Madrid, and current group leaders Benfica. In what
will surely be vastly chillier conditions—Astana being the world’s
second-coldest capital after Ulaanbaatar—the
Blue and Yellows, whose cosmopolitan makeup blends 17 Kazakhs with a
Bosnian, a Serbian, a Ghanian, a Ukrainian, a Slovenian, a Russian, a Colombian,
a Central African Republican, and a Congolese striker, should take full advantage
from their stronghold in the East. Respective 10-hour flights lay ahead of both
Atlético and Benfica.
Astana, of course, will still have to make one of those
trips themselves when they travel to Madrid in mid-October—though it may take a
bit longer going against the jet-stream—but played well in a 2-0 defeat to
Benfica in the group’s opening game, and will close things out with now
familiar Galatasaray on December 8 in Istanbul.
The Round of 16 is still a ways away for FC Astana, but they
have already made a giant step forward for the minnows that they are. And rest
assured, when Atlético comes to town on November 3, the Kazakh champs can take
their boost of confidence from this night and be assured that they have what it
takes to compete in this league, and that their rollicking fans will support
them until the death. They celebrated this evening as if the draw were a
victory. That’s because in many ways, it was.
