Deborah Akinyosoye
Victor Osimhen scored twice on Wednesday night to break Turkish football’s single-season record for most goals by a foreign player and help the Istanbul giants lift the Turkish Cup with a 3-0 win over Trabzonspor.
The Nigerian striker entered the final with 33 goals and needed two more to surpass the 34-goal mark set by Mario Jardel in the 2000/01 season.
He did just that, netting in the 46th and 63rd minutes to reach 35 goals in all competitions and lead Galatasaray to their 19th Turkish Cup title, a national record.
Baris Yilmaz had opened the scoring for Galatasaray early in the fifth minute after a clever pass from Yunus Akgun.
But it was Osimhen’s night. His first goal came just after the restart, a powerful low shot from the edge of the box into the bottom right corner.
His second was even more emphatic, a sharp turn inside the area and a curling effort into the top corner.
He has now also moved up the club’s all-time foreign goalscorers list, with 35 goals in 38 appearances, overtaking Brazil’s Mario Jardel.
Only seven other foreign players have scored more goals for Galatasaray, with Romania’s Gheorghe Hagi still leading the chart with 72.
Galatasaray can complete the domestic double with a win over Kayserispor on Sunday, which would secure their 25th league title. It would be the club’s fourth double in history, having last achieved the feat in the 1998–99 season.