Roberto Mancini made a dramatic start as Galatasaray coach on Oct. 2 when his team took a shock lead and then fell behind before scoring a late equaliser in a 2-2 draw at Juventus in the Champions League.
The Lions secured their first point under Mancini two weeks after having been routed 6-1 at home by Real Madrid.
Didier Drogba pounced on a defensive blunder in the first half to open the scoring for Galatasaray.
The visitors held on until Arturo Vidal levelled with a controversial penalty in the 78th minute and Juve then went 2-1 up with a Fabio Quagliarella header in the 87th.
The Italian team barely had time to celebrate before Umut Bulut took advantage of more slack defending to score, leaving Juve with two points from two games in Group B andGalatasaray with one.
Real Madrid lead the way with six points after their 4-0 win over Copenhagen.
Mancini underscored the importance of the game for Galatasaray’s future in the competition.
“The team will work and improve. It has to reflect its self-confidence,” Mancini said, stressing however that the Juve game was played under extraordinary circumstances, with him not having much few time to practice with the team.
“We needed a compact squad [today] on the pitch. But there might be some changes in the future,” Mancini said.
Mancini also praised Drogba’s destructive work in the attack.
For his part, former Juventus player Felipe Melo dedicated the victory to Fatih Terim, who was sacked by the club last week.
The bianconeri started slowly and handed the Turkish side the lead on a plate in the 36th minute.
Leonardo Bonucci made a hash of a back pass which Drogba intercepted. Veteran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon then rushed prematurely out of his area, allowing the Ivorian to slip the ball through his legs and into the net.
The hosts struggled to create openings but equalised out of the blue with a penalty when Quagliarella’s legs crumpled under the softest of challenges and Vidal fired the ball into the roof of the net.
Mancini was left shaking his head on the touchline and there was worse to come when Quagliarella headed home with three minutes left.
It was then Juventus coach Antonio Conte’s turn to literally tear his hear of as Bulut levelled only one minute later.
Galatasaray’s performance was convincing despite it being Mancini’s first game, Dutch star Weslej Sneijder said. “[In reference to Mancini] He’ll do a great job here,” Sneijder said after the match.
