Hamit Altintop's stunning 30 yard goal against his former club sparked Galatasaray into a match winning performance against Schalke. Burak Yilmaz's eighth goal in eight matches, a breakaway effort after Timo Hildebrand gambled and lost gave them the two away goal cushion as Schalke now had to score two more goals.
They added to Roman Neustatder's opener after Michel Bastos converted following a frantic goalmouth melee. An increasingly desperate German side poured it on and forced Fernando Muslera into some fine saves. But they left themselves exposed at the back and Umut Bulut on a counterattack gave the Turkish side the win and safe passage into the quarterfinals for the first time since 2001. That was under Mircea Lucescu and this time Fatih Terim guides the Istanbul team in his third stint as coach. The club achieved its European pinnacle under Terim after beating Arsenal on penalties in the 2000 UEFA Cup final.




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