Galatasaray's 33-game unbeaten run at home came to an abrupt end as Royale Union Saint-Gilloise claimed a deserved 1-0 victory at Rams Park in the UEFA Champions League UCL, in a result that defied pre-match predictions. Softfootball had tipped the Turkish side to win 3-1 and maintain their three-game winning streak in the UCL , but it was not meant to be as the visitors held their own and arguably dominated the contest.
The contrasting form of the two sides ahead of the match suggested an easy evening for the hosts. Galatasaray had been on a high, while Union were coming off a 3-1 defeat to Atletico Madrid . Yet it was the Belgians who looked more dangerous in the opening 45 minutes. Their first notable chance arrived just before the half-hour mark when a cross took a deflection into the path of Promise David, who should have done better as he directed his close-range effort just wide of the right post.
The Lions' three consecutive UCL wins before this clash had equaled their total from the previous 33 main-draw matches, and although Galatasaray threatened with a Gabriel Sara strike that rattled the right post, Union's Ross Sykes then hit the crossbar from a corner, denying them a halftime lead.