Osimhen Scores as Galatasaray Crush Basaksehir 3-0

Victor Osimhen simply won’t stop. On Saturday at Rams Park, the Super Eagles striker scored in Galatasaray’s commanding 3-0 win over Istanbul Basaksehir to register his 12th Super Lig goal of the 2025/26 campaign in 19 appearances. But beyond the goal itself, Osimhen etched his name into the record books in a way that no player, before him, ever had.

According to Opta data, Osimhen has now become the first player in recorded Super Lig history to be involved in a goal, either scoring or assisting, in nine consecutive league matches. It’s the kind of number that stops you in your tracks. Nine games. Every single one. That’s not a hot streak, that’s a force of nature.

The match itself followed a familiar Galatasaray pattern. They dominated the first half with ten attempts on goal but failed to register a single shot on target. The game changed in the 55th minute when a Basaksehir defender received a second yellow card, reducing the visitors to ten men. From that moment, the result was never in doubt.

How the Goals Came

Wilfried Singo broke the deadlock in the 57th minute, and just nine minutes later, it was Osimhen’s turn. He latched onto a pinpoint cross from Yunus Akgun, controlled it with composure, and struck it with venom into the back of the net to make it 2-0. It was a goal that summed up everything about his game: intelligent movement, clinical execution, no wasted energy.

Coach Okan Buruk then withdrew Osimhen and other key players to rest them ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League Round of 16 second leg at Anfield against Liverpool. It was a sensible call. Galatasaray hold a 1-0 lead from the first leg at Rams Park on March 10, where Osimhen provided the assist for Mario Lemina’s seventh-minute winner. The Cimbom are 90 minutes from the last eight of European football’s biggest competition.

Youngster Renato Nhaga wrapped up the scoring in the 84th minute to make it 3-0. Istanbul belongs to Galatasaray right now, and that statement feels more convincing every week.

The Champions League Stakes Could Not Be Higher

This win was as much about momentum as it was about three points. Galatasaray head to Anfield on Wednesday sitting seven points clear at the top of the Süper Lig, having beaten Liverpool in their own backyard just five days ago, and now carrying a 3-0 domestic demolition into that trip. The confidence levels in that dressing room must be extraordinary.

Osimhen has been central to every big Galatasaray moment this season. In the Champions League alone, he has 8 goal involvements in 2025/26, the most ever recorded by a Nigerian player in a single UCL campaign, surpassing Ademola Lookman’s six from 2024/25. He’s not just representing Galatasaray on Europe’s biggest stage, he’s rewriting what Nigerian players can achieve there.

The Anfield second leg will be the biggest test of this Galatasaray generation. Liverpool need to score at least once and keep a clean sheet to advance. As reported by FootballInNigeria.com.ng, Galatasaray have never won at Anfield, but they’ve never arrived there with a one-goal advantage either. For fans looking to build their Champions League accumulators around this tie, the current Bet9ja promotion code offers a welcome bonus of up to ₦100,000 to stake across the knockout round fixtures.

Why This Moment Matters for Nigerian Football

Let’s not understate what Osimhen is doing. He left Napoli under a cloud, after helping them win their first Serie A title in over 30 years in 2023, only to be treated with what many felt was outright disrespect by the club hierarchy. He arrived at Galatasaray and, within months, became the most important player at one of the biggest clubs in Europe.

He’s a Champions League knockout-round striker. He’s a Super Lig top scorer. He’s a history-maker by Opta data. And he’s a Super Eagles No. 9 that every international coach on the continent would want in their squad. Nigeria, whatever happens next with the national team setup, has a genuine world-class striker in their ranks. That’s not something every generation of Super Eagles fans can say.

What happens at Anfield on Wednesday will say a lot about how far this Galatasaray side has come. With Osimhen in this form, few smart football observers would bet against him finding a way to hurt Liverpool when it matters most.