THE VITALS:

Team: Galatasaray

Brand: Nike

Era: 2012-13 (Used for the 2012 TFF Super Kupa Final and the 2012-13 Super Lig season)

Name/Number: Drogba #12

CONDITION: VERY GOOD

This shirt comes to you in very good condition as it celebrates its tenth birthday at the time of writing! While the material itself and various applications are in great condition; there are some tears to the stitching on both arms where the sleeves meet the main the body and some wear the name and numbering.

DIMENSIONS:

Size: Small

Pit to Pit Measurement: 19.5 inches

Shirt Length: 27 inches 

Made by Nike in their ‘Dri-Fit’ range of shirts which they introduced in 2012; this shirt is actually fairly roomy and could most certainly fit someone who wears a size medium football shirt.

DESCRIPTION:

Nike’s second presentation of Galatasaray’s home shirt represented the tenth season in a row where the club used the half and half shirt design, however, this effort would vary considerably from its debuting predecessor. While the previous shirt used a v-neck collar and solid colours for the sleeves; the 2012-13 iteration would bring back a classic polo style collar while the sleeves were broken up by bands of the opposing colour; however, the biggest change was the inversion of the classic amber and red colours on the main body. After reclaiming the Super Lig title in 2011-12; the crest bearing the Turkish flag also returned to make up one of the applications of the shirt. This was a memorable shirt as Gala’ won the Super Kupa when they saw off fierce rivals – Fenerbahce and would then go on to win their 22^nd league title. This would also be the home shirt to be first donned by the superstar acquisition pairing of – Didier Drogba and Wesley Sneijder in January 2013, as well as national superstars: Umit Bulut, Hamit Altintop and Burak Yilmaz!

THE SEASON:

2011-12 would see Galatasaray end their three season Super Lig drought with Fatih Terim being reinstated to bring the club back to the summit of Turkish football after their ignominious 8^th place finish in 2010-11.

The close season would bring its usual series of ins and outs with: Servet Cetin, Colin Kazim-Richards and Ayhan Akman all moving on in one capacity or another, while there were some major acquisitions in the form of: Umut Bulut, Hamit Altintop, Burak Yilmaz, Nordin Amrabat and Cris, while Felipe Melo’s loan move from Juventus was made permanent!

The defence of the league title began with the visit of Kasimpasa, with Bulut netting a brace in a 2-1 win on 20/08/12! Following on from this win, would come a thrilling 3-3 draw versus Besiktas, and would rattle off a further three 3 to take their unbeaten streak in the league to 14 games, before being shocked 2-1 away against Orduspor on 28/09/12. The defeat would take a few games to get back into their groove as they won just 2 of their next 6 games, with the latter defeat coming at home to Karabukspor on 18/11/12. They would rally from there however to go unbeaten in their next 5 outings; winning 3 of them to ensure at at the half-way stage of the season, Gala’ would still lead the way by 3 points ahead of 2^nd place Besiktas.

January would represent a monumental time for the club as they were able to procure both Didier Drogba and Wesley Sneijder from Shanghai Shenhua and Internazionale respectively! However, in the reverse fixture against Kasimpasa when the league resumed on 18/01/13, Galatasaray would stumble to a 2-1 defeat. The team would rebound just as they did from their previous defeat as they won 4 of their next 6 games. The momentum would be derailed on 08/03/13 when Genclerbirligi claimed a 1-0 win at the Turk Telecom Arena to allow Besiktas to close the gap back to 4 points. From there, Galatasaray would embark on a 7 match winning run with their new signings, Buruk Yilmaz in particular coming to the fore; netting 7 times in that run to have the title wrapped up with 2 games to spare! While Fenerbahce would inflict a disappointing 2-1 defeat on the penultimate game of the season, however, the season would end with a fine 2-0 with over Trabzonspor to win the title by a 10 point margin!

The stage for the season for the season was set on 12/08/12 when Galatasaray defeated Fenerbahce to win the 2012 Turkish Super Kupa spectacle with a thrilling 3-2 win! The long wait for the Turkish Cup however, would continue as they team stumbled to a disappointing Fifth Round exit at home against 1461 Trabzon.

In Galatasaray’s first foray in the UEFA Champions League Group Stage since the 2006-07 season; the team would be drawn in Group H alongside: Braga, CFR Cluj and the glamour tie with Manchester United! After failing to win in either of their opening 3 games; they would rally to win their last 3 games to finish in 2^nd place with a superior head to head record with Cluj to reach the Last 16! There, they would meet Schalke 04 and would impressively 4-3 on aggregate with Buruk Yilmaz scoring in every game from Match-Day 3 to the 2^nd Leg of the Last 16! Here they would be drawn against Real Madrid in a rematch of their 2001 quarter final drawing and after being punished 3-0 in the 1^st Leg in Spain; they would fall behind at home after just 8 minutes, however, Gala would make an almighty push to cause an upset as they went 3-1 ahead with nearly 20 minutes to play! It wasn’t to be however, as Real Madrid netted a late goal to eliminate the Turkish champions 5-3 on aggregate!

The notable players that season were:

Didier Drogba, Milan Baros, Johan Elmander, Umut Bulut, Buruk Yilmaz, Hamit Altintop, Aydin Yilmaz, Selcuk Inan, Albert Riera, Wesley Sneijder, Furkan Ozcal, Yekta Kurtulus, Engin Baytar, Emre Colak, Nordin Amrabat, Felipe Melo, Dany Nounkeu, Gokhan Zan, Hakan Balta, Semih Kaya, Emmanuel Eboue, Tomas Ujfalusi, Caglar Birinci, Fernando Muslera, Aykut Ercetin, Ufuk Ceylan