Galatasaray scored three first-half goals as they eased to a comfortable 3-1 victory over Copenhagen.
Felipe Melo headed his side into an early lead, before further goals from Wesley Sneijder and Didier Drogba ensured that the Turkish outfit had almost secured the three points before the break.
Burak Yilmaz missed several opportunities to score after half time, but despite the match being over as a contest, Claudemir scored a consolation for Copenhagen with two minutes remaining.
Read below to see how the action unfolded in Istanbul.
Hello, and welcome to Sports Mole's coverage of the match between Galatasaray and Copenhagen in the Champions League.
When the draw for the group stages was made in August, it was initially thought that Galatasaray and Copenhagen would be left to fight it out for third position. However, after both teams secured a point against Juventus, the race for second place has been blown wide open!
Those two results have ensured that the fight for qualification places is likely to go down to the wire. Juventus have back-to-back fixtures against Real Madrid, and you would think that it's a certainty that they will drop more points over the next couple of weeks. That leaves the door open for both Galatasaray and Copenhagen to open up an advantage over the Serie A side before the concluding fixtures of the group.
It will be the Turkish outfit that fancy their chances more than Copenhagen. They have already returned from Turin with a share of the spoils, and they are also scheduled to entertain Juventus on matchday six. It could be a tough ask for Juventus if they are required to go to Turkey and earn a result.
The team news is in from Istanbul. I will bring you that shortly.
GALATASARAY XI: Muslera; Eboue, Semih, Chedjou, Dany; Melo, Selcuk, Wesley Sneijder, Bruma; Drogba, Yilmaz
GALATASARAY SUBSTITUTES: Ceylan, Sarioglu, Ceyhun, Emre, Riera, Bulut, Amrabat
COPENHAGEN XI: Wiland; Jacobsen, Bengtsson, Mellberg, Sigurdsson; Claudemir, Delaney, Gíslason, Vetokele, Jorgensen; Braaten
COPENHAGEN SUBSTITUTES: J.Jensen, Stadsgaard, Remmer, Kristensen, Bolanos, Adi, Toutouh
Regular viewers of the English football will notice that there are as many as five former Premier League players on show in Turkey this evening - Emmanuel Eboue, Didier Drogba, Olof Mellberg, Lars Jacobson and...can you guess the other? Daniel Braaten, who made 14 appearances for Bolton Wanderers during the 2007-08 season. Former Liverpool winger Albert Riera is also on the bench.
We are still 30 minutes away from kickoff in the Turk Telecom Arena, so how about some info on how each team is faring domestically?
Galatasaray haven't enjoyed the most successful starts to their league campaign. They have already changed managers, bringing in former Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini to replace Fatih Terim. Gala are currently in sixth position in the Super Lig after winning just three of their eight fixtures.
Copenhagen aren't doing too well on the domestic scene themselves. They are languishing in seventh position after 12 games in the Superliga, winning just four of them. That's not exactly the kind of form that is going to have them playing with confidence in Europe.
The Danish side are managed by Stale Solbakken, who is remembered in England for his spell with Wimbledon in the nineties, but most recently, he spent a turbulent time in charge of Wolverhampton Wanderers. He spent just six months at Molineux, before getting sacked after an FA Cup defeat to Luton Town. This is the Norwegian's second spell at Copenhagen, after previously winning a remarkable five Danish titles in six years between 2005 and 2011.
As always, you can follow all of the tonight's action in the Champions League with Sports Mole. The remaining six commentaries, team news and a report on Manchester City's 2-1 triumph over CSKA Moscow can all be found by clicking here.
PREDICTION! Neither side come into the contest in the greatest of form, but with the stakes already high in the group, it is difficult to back against the likes of Didier Drogba and Wesley Sneijder guiding Galatasaray to victory in front of their home supporters. 3-0 to the Turkish side.
As expected, the Galatasaray fans making quite a bit of noise ahead of the arrival of the two teams. We shouldn't forget that they made the quarter-finals of this competition last season, so there are high expectations in Istanbul.
A 'no to racism' is making its way down the lineups as they embrace the Champions League anthem. That is relevant this evening, after Manchester City's Yaya Toure was racially abused by a section of the CSKA Moscow fans earlier this evening.
We are underway in Turkey.
It's been a strong start from the home side. They have dominated possession, while also picking their moment to go direct with their final delivery. They could be dealt an early blow though, because Yilmaz is down with a problem.
The striker is back on his feet, albeit moving rather gingerly.
Galatasaray win the first corner of the match after good work from Eboue - a sentence never said by any Arsenal fan. The initial set piece is cleared, but the ball came back in for Sneijder to send an acrobatic volley straight at Wiland.
There has already been a goal in the other game in this group. Cristiano Ronaldo has given Real Madrid an early lead at the Bernabeu against Juventus.
GOAL! Galatasaray 1-0 Copenhagen (Melo)
Copenhagen have been constantly on the back foot since the start of this match, and now they are a goal behind. Dany delivered the perfect delivery from the right-hand side for Melo to send a bullet header into the bottom corner from six yards.
This is already looking like it is going to be a long night for the Danes.
SHOT! After managing to deal with a couple of Copenhagen corners, Galatasaray should double their lead. Drogba is played in behind the defence, but he fires his shot straight at Wiland when all he had to do was lift the ball over the goalkeeper.
The whistles are out for the visitors as soon as they get the ball - talk about a friendly welcome! They seem to have weather the early storm and are beginning to look competitive in this match.
CHANCE! Igor Vetokele is proving to be a handful at set pieces for Copenhagen, and not for the first time, he wins the header, only for it to go just wide of the near post.
Juventus have found an equaliser in Spain through Fernando Llorente.
It must be difficult for the Galatasaray players - even the slightest mistake is getting jeered by their fans! Their final ball has been lacking in the last five minutes, but that has been mainly down to the positioning of Copenhagen's defenders.
Daniel Braaten tracks back for Copenhagen, but he concedes a foul around 40 yards out. Will Drogba be tempted?
SHOT! He was never going to need much encouragement, was he? The Ivorian lines up the ball, but his swerving effort is straight at Wiland, who manages to hold on to the ball.
There's been another goal in Spain! It appears to be a topsy-turvy match at the Bernabeu, with Real Madrid regaining the lead through Ronaldo.
BOOKING! The first booking of the match goes to Copenhagen's Delaney, who went in with a high boot when challenging with Melo. He will be suspended for the next game.
GOAL! Galatasaray 2-0 Copenhagen (Sneijder)
That could be a huge goal before the break! Eboue broke with the ball from the halfway line, and managed to retain possession while heading towards the penalty area. He found Sneijder who was waiting to his left, and the Dutch international curled home from 10 yards.
We might only be 42 minutes in, but it's hard to see Copenhagen coming back from that. Muslera has hardly touched the ball, or been threatened apart from three corners. Solbakken is going to have to work hard at the break to help the Danes avoid defeat.
GOAL! Galatasaray 3-0 Copenhagen (Drogba)
Well if this match wasn't over before, it is now. Bruma and Eboue have been instrumental to this positive Galatasaray performance and they combine once more to give Drogba the simplest of tasks at the back post.
HALF TIME: Galatasaray 3-0 Copenhagen
That couldn't have gone any better for Galatasaray. They have completely dominated an average Copenhagen side and unless the Danish team improve, they could lose this five or six. As the results in this group stand, the Istanbul outfit could be in a favourable position in Group B.
This is the type of performance that Roberto Mancini would have been craving since arriving in Turkey last month. It has been an efficient display, and it's one that could serve them well in future fixtures.
For this of you interested, Real Madrid are still leading Juventus 2-1 at the Bernabeu. Carlo Ancelotti's men will be almost in the knockout stages if they can hold on to that result.
Copenhagen are bringing on Christian Bolanos at the break as they look for some encouragement at the start of the second half. Solbakken is also introducing Fanendo Adi.
The Danish side get us underway in the second half.
Rather surprisingly, it has been all Copenhagen for the opening moments after the break, with Adi already having an impact in attack.
There appears to be a situation developing at the Benfica game. The home side and Olympiacos are currently playing in conditions that can simply be described as rather wet. Common sense would siggest that it will get abandoned shortly, but there has been nothing from the referee as of yet. Back to this game, and well, there's not much happening.
Galatasaray show their first bit of intent during this half when Yilmaz wins possession on the edge of the penalty area. However, his attempted pass to Drogba is well cut out, and Copenhagen clear.
The link-up play between Bruma and Eboue has been sensational at times. They seemed to have strung together a really effective partnership down the right-hand side. However, on this occasion, Bruma's ball to Eboue is just out of his reach as he looked to pull the ball back into the middle.
The Galatasaray fans are currently waving lights - maybe from their phones - above their head while saluting their team. if that doesn't tell you that this match is done and dusted, then I don't know what will!
CHANCE! Yilmaz has been struggling for goals this season, and his confidence must be at an all-time low after that miss. Drogba did what Drogba does best - plucking the ball out of the air with aplomb before playing in Yilmaz - but the Turkish international placed the ball wide of the target from around eight yards.
There's less than 20 minutes remaining in Istanbul. The fight has well and truly gone from the Danes, but can Galatasaray add a fourth? Drogba does well to get a cross in from the left, but it is marginally too high for Yilmaz.
CHANCE! Yilmaz shows superb touch to bring the ball out of the air before turning inside the defender. However, rather than attempting to find the top corner, he tries to chip the ball over Wiland, but it was never troubling the goal.
SUBSTITUTION! Mancini finally makes his first change of the night, replacing Felipe Melo with Ceyhun Gulselam.
SUBSTITUTION! The former Manchester City boss is ringing the changes now. Wesley Sneijder is the next man to depart the action, with Nordin Amrabat coming on in his place.
As it stands, my pre-match prediction is going to come true. There's a first time for everything, right? I can't see there being any more goals in this. Galatasaray are just looking to protect their clean sheet by keeping eight players behind the ball.
SUBSTITUTION! Didier Drogba is making his way off the pitch to a standing ovation, with Mancini choosing to give Umut Bulut, who has already netted in this season's competition, a late run-out.
GOAL! Galatasaray 3-1 Copenhagen (Claudemir)
Unbelievable. Copenhagen net a consolation through Claudemir, who bustled his way through the Galatasaray defence before placing the ball past Muslera. I'm pleased that I never had any money on 3-0...
There will be two minutes of added-on time.
FULL TIME: Galatasaray 3-1 Copenhagen
The referee blows his full-time whistle in Istanbul, and Galatasaray have moved to second in Group B with a comfortable 3-1 win over Copenhagen. The consolation goal for the Danes was completely against the run of play, and Galatasaray would have been good value if they had netted a couple more before full time.
The other match in the group ended in a 2-1 victory for Real Madrid, who require just one more success to qualify for the knockout stages.
That will be all from Sports Mole for this match. We hope that you have enjoyed tonight's match, and that you will considering returning in the future. Goodbye for now.
