Gabriel Sara’s late free kick lifts Galatasaray past Basaksehir 3-2

Gabriel Sara scored a late free kick as Galatasaray defeated Istanbul Basaksehir 3-2 away from home on Friday in the Turkish Super Lig.

The Brazilian midfielder struck the winning goal in the 90th minute, finding the bottom-left corner with a left-footed free kick.

Galatasaray made a fast start as Victor Osimhen met Aleksey Batrakov's cross with a close-range header in the opening minute, but Deniz Dilmen made the save.

Deniz denied the visitors again five minutes later, turning Yunus Akgun's long-range effort behind for a corner.

Osimhen opened the scoring in the 17th minute with a right-footed shot from outside the penalty area.

The ball struck the underside of the crossbar and bounced behind the goal line, with the goal awarded following a video assistant referee review.

The Nigerian forward suffered an injury in the 32nd minute and was replaced by Baris Alper Yilmaz one minute later.

Basaksehir nearly equalized shortly before halftime when Ugurcan Cakir turned Olivier Kemen's effort from the left side of the penalty area behind at the near post.

Galatasaray suffered another injury setback at halftime as Mario Lemina was replaced by Abdulkerim Bardakci.

The hosts began the second half strongly, and Kemen sent a close-range header narrowly wide from Jakub Kaluzinski's corner in the 50th minute.

Basaksehir were awarded a penalty in the 63rd minute after Roland Sallai fouled Abbosbek Fayzullaev inside the area.

Eldor Shomurodov converted the spot-kick three minutes later, sending his right-footed effort into the bottom-right corner to level.

Rafael Leao made his Galatasaray debut in the 68th minute, replacing Batrakov.

Galatasaray regained the lead three minutes later as Lucas Torreira finished into the bottom-right corner from the center of the penalty area following a one-two with Ismail Jakobs.

Basaksehir responded again in the 76th minute when Davinson Sanchez headed a corner into his own net.

Sara struck the post from outside the penalty area two minutes later before Basaksehir were reduced to 10 men when Umut Bozok was shown a red card in the 79th minute.

Sanchez appeared to restore Galatasaray's advantage with a header from Sara's free kick in the 83rd minute, but the goal was ruled out for offside after a lengthy VAR review.

Sara eventually secured all three points for the Lions with his decisive free kick in the final minute of regulation time.

Basaksehir nearly equalized in the fourth minute of stoppage time, but their effort struck the woodwork.

The victory lifted Galatasaray to 10 points in four matches. Basaksehir remain on four points.