Nonda strikes twice to deny Steaua

Galatasaray AŞ recovered from two goals down to salvage a home draw with FC Steaua Bucureşti in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League third qualifying round tie.

Nonda double
Steaua looked on course to take a lead back to Romania in a fortnight when Dairo Moreno and Bănel Nicoliţă struck in a first 12 minutes. Shabani Nonda quickly pulled one back, however, and his second goal just after half-time ensured there will be all to play for in Bucharest.

Steaua strike
The home side were deprived the services of Harry Kewell, Tobias Linderoth and Ümit Karan through injury and were behind in the fourth minute. Aykut Erçetin's goal kick fell to Moreno and the Colombian entered the box and calmly beat the keeper. Eight minutes later a Steaua throw-in was picked up by Nicoliţă five metres from goal and his powerful shot doubled the lead.

Equaliser
Despite those setbacks the 20,000 home fans continued to support their team and were given hope on 18 minutes when Nonda struck from close range. An equaliser nearly arrived not long before the break when Arda Turan found Nonda but Robinson Zapata made a fine reflex save. Two minutes into the second half an Arda cross from the left was headed in by the Congolese striker.

Visitors hold out
Now the pressure was on Steaua to hold out and they did so with some comfort despite the introduction of Barış Özbek and Sabri Sarıoğlu. Galatasaray, meanwhile, will hope the return of injured players in a fortnight inspires them to the group stage.