ISTANBUL: Barcelona and Lamine Yamal rediscovered their sparkle after a rocky first half in the cauldron of Istanbul's Ali Sami Yen Stadium, winning 4-1 away to Galatasaray in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Yamal tore the hosts apart after half time.
"It's incredible to have players like that," said Barcelona coach Hansi Flick.
"He's turned the game around for us."
Halfway through the second round of matches, the victory lifted Barcelona to the top of the Champions League table with two wins. Galatasaray are pointless and near the foot of the standings.
"We're at a very high level. We have to keep going; the season is very long. We can't relax," said Barcelona's Fermin Lopez.
Barcelona dominated the early stages.
With Yamal vigorously policed on the right by the home defence, many of their attacks flowed through Anthony Gordon on the other flank.
Yet Galatasaray took the lead after 27 minutes.
After Gordon went tumbling in the penalty box, the hosts launched a rapid counter-attack through Rafael Leao.
He pulled the ball back to the edge of the area to Russian Aleksei Batrakov, whose drive deflected off Joao Cancelo and into the corner of the goal.
"That goal made things a bit strange for us, because we had been dominating. But we knew how to react and come back," said Fermin.
The hosts pushed for a second, with Victor Osimhen heading over from a corner and Baris Yilmaz having a goal ruled out for offside.
Barcelona restored parity when Yamal went down on the edge of the area, and Davinson Sanchez gave the ball away.
Dani Olmo fed Cancelo, who finished past the goalkeeper.
Yamal took control in the second half, setting up Fermin to head home a cross in the 50th minute.
Three minutes later, Yamal beat defender Eren Elmali to set up Gordon, who made no mistake from close range.
Yamal then created the fourth goal after 65 minutes, cutting inside to pass to Gabriel Jesus, who laid the ball off for Karim Adeyemi to score. — AFP
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