Despite taking an early lead through Roman Neustadter, the German side was ultimately undone by strikes from Hamit Altintop and Burak Yilmaz just before the break.

Although Michel Bastos levelled just after the hour, Schalke still needed another as the Turks had scored more away goals and their all-out attack left them vulnerable at the back, with Gala making sure of its progress thanks to Umut Bulut’s injury-time effort.

The Super Lig leader was looking to bounce back from an embarrassing home defeat to Genclerbirligi in its last domestic outing and it started in confident fashion.

Former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba looked imperious early on and Schalke goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand had to be at his best to tip the striker’s fierce effort round the post.

The Ivorian then played in Selcuk Inan, who ran through on goal but lost his balance and his shot did not unduly trouble Hildebrand.

It seemed only a matter of time until the Schalke goal was breached but it was the hosts who took a 17-minute lead very much against the run of play.

The visitors failed to clear their lines from a corner and Joel Matip played the ball back to Neustadter, who slotted home with his outstretched left foot.

The strike seemed to settle Schalke, who had won all three league games since the draw with Tuesday night’s opponent in the first leg.

Wesley Sneijder served notice to the Gelsenkirchen side, however, when he fired narrowly wide from just inside the area before Altintop brought the tie back to life in the 37th minute.

Drogba squared a free kick to the Turkey international 25 yards from goal and his fierce blast went in off the post.

And five minutes later, Gala had taken the lead when Burak shrugged off the challenge of Benedikt Howedes and lifted over Hildebrand for his eighth Champions League goal in as many games.

Jens Keller’s men started the second half in positive fashion and Teemu Pukki — starting in place of injured star striker Klaas Jan Huntelaar — turned on the edge of the box before his rattling low effort was pushed away by Fernando Muslera at his near post.

The Gala goalkeeper was at fault, however, when Michel Bastos levelled in the 63rd minute.

Marco Hoger fired against the crossbar and although it looked like there would be no follow-up, Muslera fumbled and left Atsuto Uchida to square for the Brazilian to fire into an empty net.

Sneijder went close to immediately regaining the lead for Gala but he hammered wide but it was Schalke who gained the upper hand thereafter, with Muslera slightly redeeming himself by smartly parrying away Julian Draxler’s effort.

Gala then had to make a change as defender Semih Kaya was carried off the pitch having been knocked out although that did not seem to affect the Istanbul side, who held firm in spite of some probing pressure from Schalke.

However, the hosts left themselves wide open to the counter in search of a winner and it was Gala who stole up the other end to make sure of their progress to the quarterfinal.

Substitute Umut beat the offside trap in the fifth minute of injury time and beat Hildebrand at the second attempt to send the visitors wild with joy.

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But Schalke scorer, midfielder Jermaine Jones, will miss the second leg of their last-16 tie on March 12 through suspension after picking up his third yellow card of the competition — 10 minutes before scoring.

Jones called the yellow card “stupid” but said the team was “absolutely satisfied” with the result.

Burak Yilmaz opened the scoring against the run of play in the 12th, displaying great skill to lift the ball over Schalke captain Benedikt Hoewedes with the back of his heel before blasting the ball past Timo Hildebrand.

Jones was booked in the 35th after calling for a yellow card for an opponent, but finished off a swift counterattack to equalize before the interval. Jefferson Farfan ran onto Klaas-Jan Huntelaar’s ball forward before playing it into the centre for the American to score emphatically.

“Whenever it comes to the crunch, we’re there,” said Hildebrand, referring to the club’s poor midseason form.

Huntelaar, who recovered from an eye injury to play, missed two good chances to improve Schalke’s record of just one win from its last 13 games across all competitions.

Galatasaray defender Dany Nounkeu cleared from the Dutchman in the first minute, when Jones drew a save from Fernando Muslera and Farfan played in the rebound.

A wayward pass from Schalke midfielder Roman Neustaedter led to the opening goal, with recent signings Wesley Sneijder and Didier Drogba both involved before Selcuk Inan found Burak Yilmaz to score his seventh goal of the competition.

Huntelaar then missed with the goal at his mercy after failing to connect with Hoewedes’ header at the far post.

Two minutes later, Hildebrand saved from Drogba and former Schalke midfielder Hamit Altintop struck the crossbar from the rebound.

Hildebrand was again called into action to deny Burak Yilmaz, before Jones drew the sides level.

Sneijder was taken off at halftime after failing to deal with Schalke’s forays down the right.

However, the visitors maintained most of the possession after the break, only to be let down by the final ball.

The 19-year-old Julian Draxler berated Huntelaar for failing to read his intentions as another pass went astray in the penalty area.

Huntelaar and Burak Yilmaz had chances to win at either end, but the Dutchman fired over before being replaced, while the impressive Turkey striker was narrowly wide of the far post.

Galatasaray midfielder Nordin Amrabat laid out the strategy for the return leg: “The formula for victory is very simple. We need to score and win (in Gelsenkirchen). But it won’t be an easy task.”

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