Paul Onuachu returned to action for Trabzonspor on Saturday, but it was Mohamed Salah who grabbed the headlines with a hat-trick as Galatasaray suffered a heavy 4-0 defeat in the Turkish Super Lig, Nigeriasoccernet.com reports.
The Super Eagles striker was introduced in the 58th minute with Trabzonspor already firmly in control of the contest.
Galatasaray arrived at the Senol Gune? Sports Complex as league leaders but struggled badly in the absence of the injured Victor Osimhen, who was unavailable for the encounter.
Salah opened the scoring just four minutes into the match, giving the hosts an early advantage and putting Galatasaray on the back foot.
The Egyptian forward then turned provider in the 39th minute, setting up Noah Saviolo to double Trabzonspor’s lead.
Salah added another goal shortly before half-time to give the home side a commanding 3-0 advantage at the interval.
Onuachu came on shortly after the hour mark, but Trabzonspor continued to control proceedings as Galatasaray searched for a route back into the match.
The visitors committed more players forward in the second half, leaving spaces at the back that Trabzonspor were able to exploit on the counter.
Salah completed his hat-trick in the 80th minute after racing through the Galatasaray defence before calmly finishing to make it 4-0.
Galatasaray’s difficult evening was compounded late in the match when midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu received a straight red card following a VAR review for a dangerous stamp on a Trabzonspor player.
The visitors were consequently forced to finish the game with 10 men, suffering a damaging defeat despite entering the fixture at the top of the league standings.
Galatasaray will now hope Osimhen can return to full fitness soon as they look to halt their poor run and respond to Saturday’s heavy loss.