Galatasaray Held by Corum FK as Osimhen Saves Champions

Galatasaray’s title defence did not so much begin as jolt into life.

On a hot opening night of the 2026/27 Turkish Super League season, the champions twice leaned on Victor Osimhen and still had to swallow a 2-2 draw against newly promoted Corum FK – a result that felt far closer to a warning than a routine stumble.

Osimhen strikes, but upset brews in Istanbul

For 53 minutes, it looked exactly like the script Galatasaray had written for themselves.

Osimhen, the marquee striker and the league’s biggest attraction, broke the deadlock shortly after the break, sweeping home the first goal of the new campaign and seemingly setting up a comfortable afternoon at the home of the champions. Yunus Akgun had already had the ball in the net in the first half, only for his effort to be correctly ruled out for offside. No matter. The pressure was building, the noise was rising, and the gulf in experience between the sides appeared to be widening.

Then Corum FK tore the script up.

Making their debut in the top flight, the visitors refused to shrink under the lights. Alexandros Kyziridis struck, Jesus Ramirez followed in quick succession, and suddenly the champions were staring at a 2-1 deficit and one of the shocks of the early season. The stadium tightened. Galatasaray, so often bullies on their own turf, were being shoved around by the new kids.

TV100’s cameras captured the disbelief as Corum FK began to look like a side capable of walking out with all three points from the champions’ backyard.

Buruk: “We’re used to winning, especially at home”

Okan Buruk’s body language on the touchline told its own story. Arms folded, then flung wide. Instructions barked, then replaced by a shake of the head. After the final whistle, he did not hide his frustration.

“We’re not 100% ready. No team is 100% ready, and neither are we,” he told GS TV, pointing to the disrupted rhythm of a post-World Cup calendar and a squad still in its preparation phase. The caveat came with a sting. “But of course, we needed to get through this period by winning.”

The coach did not dress up the disappointment.

“We’re disappointed, of course we are. We’re not used to this kind of thing. We’re used to winning, especially at home. We’ve always played that dominant game. Maybe there have been matches where we played worse and still won. We will do better, we will do it in time.”

His words carried a double edge: an explanation of early-season rust, and a reminder of the standards Galatasaray are supposed to live by.

Osimhen’s rescue act underlines his weight

The pressure eventually told. With Corum FK edging towards a famous debut victory, Osimhen stepped up again late on to haul Galatasaray level and salvage a point. It was not the roar of a last-minute winner, but it felt like the club’s first big escape of the season.

The Nigerian’s brace stood out as the individual performance of the afternoon. Two goals, the first strike of the new league year, and a timely reminder that if Galatasaray are to navigate a demanding campaign on multiple fronts, Osimhen will sit at the heart of it.

Yet his contribution also underlined another truth: when your centre-forward has to drag you out of trouble at home to a newly promoted side, there is work to do.

Corum FK announce themselves

Corum FK may have left Istanbul with only a point, but they walked away with something more valuable: belief.

They had the champions on the ropes. They overturned a deficit. They led in the lion’s den and forced Galatasaray into desperation mode. For a club taking its first steps in the Super League, this was not a plucky, backs-to-the-wall survival act. It was a statement that they can compete, and hurt, the division’s elite.

They could not quite hold on for a dream debut win, denied by Osimhen’s late intervention, yet their performance will echo into the coming weeks.

Early questions, early chances

For Galatasaray, the calendar offers no time to brood. Buruk’s side now head on the road for their first away assignment of the season, a trip to Erzurumspor – another newly promoted club tasting Super League football for the first time.

It is an immediate test of character and response. Do the champions allow this opening-day wobble to fester, or do they reassert their authority against fresh opposition in a new city?

The season has barely started, but the message from matchday one is clear: the rest of the league is not waiting for Galatasaray to get “100% ready.”