After a long pause among the continent’s elite teams, Istanbul’s Fenerbahçe, supported by packed stands at home, drew 1:1 (0:1) with AS Roma footballers.
The Romans, who played better in the first half, were put ahead by Bryan Cristante (39 min.), but right at the start of the second half Archie Brown (48 min.) equalized the score.
During the remaining time, Fenerbahçe had more opportunities to score, but the match ultimately ended peacefully.
One of Turkey’s football giants returned to the Champions League after a 17-year break – Fenerbahçe last played in this prestigious tournament in the 2008-2009 season.
Roma’s team also had not played in the Champions League for a while – their last participation was in the 2018-2019 season.
The match in Istanbul was also watched by Lithuanian national basketball player Ignas Sargiūnas. This summer, he moved from Vilnius “Rytas” to play for the Fenerbahçe team, coached by Šarūnas Jasikevičius and Kazys Maksvytis.
In other matches, Eindhoven’s PSV played at home 1:1 (0:1) against Donetsk’s Shakhtar club.
The course of the match was similar to Istanbul. Gleiker Mendoza put the Ukrainian team ahead at the end of the first half (45+1 min.), but Sergino Dest equalized the score at the start of the second half (48 min.).
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