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A heated brawl erupted at the Europa League clash between Sparta Prague and Galatasaray on Thursday, February 22. The match ended with Prague securing a 4-1 win, which led the home team into the next round of the tournament. However, the celebrations were soon tarnished as players from both teams engaged in a violent conflict. The visitors were down to 10 men when Kaan Ayhan was sent off in the 68th minute of the game, and Prague scored three goals following it.
The celebrations were cut short after players from both sides engaged in a heated brawl near the boundary. Players and officials interfered before things could get heated further. Among them was former midfielder Lucas Torreira who appeared to be trying to diffuse the situation.
This wasn’t the first time that controversy has hit Turkish football. Earlier in December 2023, matches in all Turkish football leagues were suspended for a week after a referee was punched in the face. During one of the Turkish Super Lig matches, referee Halil Umut Meler was punched in the face by Ankaragucu’s president, Faruk Koca. After the incident, the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) imposed a permanent ban on Koca.
Coming back to the clash between Prague and Galatasaray, Sparta defender Angelo Preciado scored an opener in the eighth minute of the game to give his side an early lead. However, the Lions were quick enough to make a comeback as they equalised the score by scoring just eight minutes later with Abdulkerim Bardakci's header.
The game saw visitors’ defender Kaan Ayhan walking off after being shown a red card following a VAR review on his tackle on rivals’ midfielder Lukas Haraslin in the 68th minute. Sparta’s second goal came in the 74th minute, which then got extended to 3-1 in the 80th minute. Kuchta went on to score the fourth goal for his side with a one-on-one shot in the 96th minute of the clash.
