Galatasaray Held by Corum FK: Osimhen's Late Brace Saves Champions

The champions walked in expecting a statement win. They walked out with questions.

Galatasaray’s title defence began with a jolt in Istanbul, a 2-2 draw against newly promoted Corum FK that needed Victor Osimhen’s late intervention to avoid outright embarrassment on the opening day of the 2026/27 Turkish Super League season.

For 50 cagey minutes, the night simmered. Then Osimhen lit the fuse.

The Nigerian striker, making an immediate mark on his new campaign, broke the deadlock in the 53rd minute, sweeping home the first official goal of the Super League season. After Yunus Akgun’s earlier effort had been correctly ruled out for offside, Osimhen made sure there was no debate this time. The champions had their lead. The stadium relaxed. It felt like the script was finally unfolding as expected.

Corum FK tore it up.

On their Super League debut, the visitors refused to be intimidated by the setting or the badge in front of them. They grew into the contest, started to win duels, started to believe. Then, in a dizzying spell, they flipped the game on its head.

Alexandros Kyziridis struck first, levelling the match and puncturing the air of inevitability around Galatasaray’s afternoon. Before the champions could steady themselves, Jesus Ramirez arrived with another blow, turning a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 Corum lead and dragging the champions to the edge of a shock home defeat.

For a spell, the unthinkable was on. TV100 highlighted how comfortable Corum suddenly looked, managing the game, threatening to walk out of the champions’ home with all three points and a statement result that would have thundered around the league.

That was when Osimhen stepped back into the frame.

As the clock ticked down and anxiety spread through the stands, the Nigerian forward struck again, hauling Galatasaray level and snatching a point that felt like rescue rather than reward. His brace underlined exactly why he is expected to be the focal point of this title defence, even on a day when his goals could not drag his team over the line.

After the final whistle, Okan Buruk did not sugar-coat the mood.

“We're not 100% ready. No team is 100% ready, and neither are we,” the Galatasaray head coach told GS TV, pointing to the disrupted rhythm of a squad still in its preparation phase. He had warned beforehand that this would be a difficult opener. The performance proved him right; the result underlined the cost.

“But of course, we needed to get through this period by winning,” he admitted. “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.”

That last line sounded less like a promise and more like a necessity.

For all the frustration, one positive glared through: Osimhen looks ready. His movement, his timing, his calm in front of goal – all of it pointed to a striker already in stride. His first strike of the evening did more than open the scoring; it claimed the honour of the first goal of the entire Super League season, a distinction that had briefly appeared to belong to Yunus Akgun before VAR and the offside flag intervened.

On the other side, Corum FK left with something more valuable than a single point: proof that they belong. To fall behind away to the champions on debut, then roar back to lead, and come within minutes of a famous victory – that will fuel belief in their camp long after the disappointment of conceding late fades.

Galatasaray, meanwhile, have no time to dwell. Their next assignment sends them on the road to Erzurumspor, another newly promoted side and another club tasting the Super League for the first time. It will be the champions’ first away test of the season, and already it carries a different weight: not just a routine trip, but a chance to show that this opening stumble was a warning shot, not a warning sign.

If they don’t sharpen quickly, nights like this one against Corum FK may stop feeling like a shock and start looking like a pattern.