How Galatasaray beat Benfica, Podolski video

It had been two years without a UEFA Champions League win for Galatasaray – but for their fans, it felt longer.

There were some heavy defeats and some laborious draws. Lots of missed chances and some comical own goals. But the wait is over: a 2-1 comeback defeat of Benfica ended the ten-game run.

Maybe the fact that the previous victory, in December 2013, was such a famous one made the wait even more arduous: the dramatic 85th-minute winner by Wesley Sneijder against Juventus that took Galatasaray past the Old Lady of Turin in a match played over the course of two days due to the interruption of snowfall.

Midfielder Selçuk İnan said that this was "not putting extra pressure over the players," but a run of seven losses and three draws suggested otherwise. An eighth defeat looked on the cards when Nicolás Gaitán scored for Benfica after 74 seconds, but for once with a mountain to climb, Galatasaray scaled the heights.

First İnan, eight days on from the goal against Iceland that took Turkey to UEFA EURO 2016, converted from the spot on 19 minutes, and then Aurélien Chedjou sent out a classy through ball from deep to set up Lukas Podolski to put Galatasaray ahead.

Taking the lead was one thing, but holding on to it was even more important – especially after having blown one at Astana last month. But after their clumsy second-minute errors, Balta and Chedjou stood firm and blocked seven of 18 Benfica efforts, with Fernando Muslera confident in stopping whatever on-target shots got past the defensive duo.

To be fair, leaving the ball to a side as classy as Benfica could be lethal, and their neat and fast-flowing passing was at times too much for the hosts, but with a combination of luck – the visitors' wayward shooting – and resilience, Galatasaray withstood the pressure – and notably, they did it with a squad with more than a couple of attacking-minded players.

Bilal Kısa and Wesley Sneijder are not traditional holding midfielders and coach Hamza Hamzaoğlu risked criticism for not making changes in the last half-hour had things not go their way, but his decision paid off.

Galatasaray remain third in Group C, just as they were at kick-off on Wednesday, but there is a major difference now: they are "starting again," as Kısa put it.