Welcome to hell. Tottenham took a team of rotating players and youngsters to Istanbul (not Constantinople) to face Galatasaray in the Europa League group stage, knowing that with three wins in the last three years they had a rare opportunity in what was probably their most difficult Phase some opportunities to take advantage of the group phase game. Finally, Galatasaray have Victor Osimhen, one of the best strikers in world football, and also former Tottenham centre-back Davinson Sanchez, which significantly increases the profile and potential #Banter level of this game.

And Galatasaray showed why they are currently the top-scoring side in the competition after Yunus Akgun fired a volley past Fraser Forster to give the home side an early 1-0 lead. Tottenham academy prospect and future star William “BIG WILLY LANKS” Lankshear equalized for Spurs by scoring his first senior goal for the club, but Osimhen proved why he is so highly regarded by scoring one Scored a brace and took Galatasaray into the dressing room with a 3-0 lead. 1 line.

Tottenham brought in some experienced players at half-time, with Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur for Son Heung-Min and Brennan Johnson and later Pape Sarr and Dominic Solanke for the largely ineffective Lucas Bergvall and James Maddison. Solanke tapped in a low cross from Pedro Porro to cut the lead to 3-2 after Lankshear lost his head and picked up a second yellow card, being sent off for a rash tackle. The Spurs played valiantly against a man but couldn't muster enough offense to put a third goal in the net. The game ended with Galatasaray winning 3-2.

Here are my quick hit match notes.

Game reactions:

• There are many bubbling cauldrons of home support in football, but the away game at Galatasaray is definitely one of the most intimidating. What a great experience for Tottenham's young players to play in this environment!
• Regarding Yunus' opening goal – you can perhaps argue that Vicario saves while Forster fails to, but that shot was pretty toxic so I won't make that argument. It was just a blast. Find it and move on.
• BIG WILLY LANKS' goal was just a nice team game. The referee did well to recognize the advantage after Sonny was fouled in the build-up play, and there were excellent passes from Gray to Johnson and Lankshear for the tap-in. What a moment for him. (It's a shame what happened next.) Archie's pass to Johnson was great.
• You can, can, can NOT give Victor Osimhen a chance like he scored (first) in the first half. A really poor defensive pass from Dragusin out of defense started things off, and when Osimhen gets a chance like that, he rarely misses it.
• Osimhen is one of the best strikers in world football and he is on loan at Galatasaray because…reasons? IDK, it's inexplicable. Gala's front three – Yilmaz, Icardi, Osimhen – is simply absurd, and Gala noticeably faded in the second half when two of them left the field.
• It's not really fair to him since this wasn't a good demonstration of his abilities, but Lucas Bergvall seemed WAY out of his depth in this case. He was probably Spurs' worst player. A harsh assessment, but I'm starting to think he's just not ready for football at this level. Which is fine! He is young and will probably be very good! He may not be yet.
• James Maddison also had a bit of a shock. He was very stubborn in his passing and perhaps showed why he hasn't been favored in the starting XI recently.
• Dragusin, another who did not cover himself with glory. It really struggled to play from defense and Osimhen made him skate several times. I think he's a good defender. I'm not sure he's a good defender for the USA.
• A very immature sending off from Will Lankshear. Big Willy Lanks had been fouled a few seconds earlier without conceding a goal, saw the red mist and went in with a wild challenge to get his second yellow. A very “welcome to top football, boy” moment for him – a goal and two yellows. He will learn from it.
• Even after going down to ten men, Spurs had chances of a draw. Solanke's shot into the goal was nice and Gala ended up having to replace both Osimhen and Mauro Icardi, but Spurs couldn't muster enough late attack to take the point. However, they played very well against a man when they brought some of their regular players into the team.
• Despite the defeat, Spurs are still fifth (for now) in the EL standings, with Galatasaray at the top. That's why I say it's a free kick – a loss doesn't really hurt them here, they gave some of their fringe players the minutes they needed and did quite well. Furthermore, no one was injured. I'll take it.