Besiktas has done good business in the Turkish Süper Lig. The team of Senol Günes won 3-1 against Istanbulspor on Saturday thanks to hits from Cenk Tosun, Vincent Aboubakar and Nathan Redmond. Aboubakar’s goal, who found the intersection with a curled shot from a distance, was a particularly nice one. Besiktas records its third win in a row and is now two points behind Fenerbahçe, which still has two games in hand. Leader Galatasaray seems elusive for Besiktas with an eleven point lead. Istanbulspor is sixteenth and only one point above the line.
Besiktas had the first good opportunity of the game after fifteen minutes. Rachid Ghezzal tried from the right side with a shot that flew wide. On behalf of the visitors, Valon Ethemi also tried in vain. Besiktas was the parent in the first half, but despite several chances it was unable to open the score for a long time. For example, Aboubakar was just unable to convert a shot by Tayyip Sanuç into a goal and an attempt by Gedson Fernandes was neutralized by central defender Mehmet Yesil. On the other hand, Mahamadou Ba’s header was blocked by Mert Günok. Three minutes before the break, Tosun still opened the score by nodding in a corner kick from Ghezzal: 1-0.
The opening phase of the second half was spectacular. First, after good preparatory work by Ghezzal, Tosun shot wide, after which Istanbulspor came very close to the equalizer moments later. Florian Loshaj had a good shot, but the Kosovar saw his effort hit the post. Loshaj couldn’t do anything about Aboubakar’s 2-0 a few minutes later. The Cameroonian cut from the left towards the center, found enough space and saw his shot from more than twenty meters end up in the cross: 2-0.
The game seemed to be in the bag, but twenty minutes before the end it suddenly became 2-1. Günok just handed the ball in to Jason Eyenga-Lokilo, who then received the ball back from Ethemi and accounted for the tying goal. Omar Colley then became Besiktas’ hero by clearing a bet from Ethemi off the line. In stoppage time, the home team put an end to all illusions. Redmond rushed towards goal and found the short corner with a hard shot: 3-1.
| No. | Team | m | W | G | v | +/- | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Galatasaray | 25 | 19 | 3 | 3 | 33 | 60 |
| 2 | Fenerbahce | 23 | 16 | 3 | 4 | 33 | 51 |
| 3 | Besiktas | 25 | 14 | 7 | 4 | 20 | 49 |
| 4 | Adana Demirspor | 25 | 12 | 9 | 4 | 20 | 45 |
| 5 | Trabzonspor | 24 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 41 |
| 6 | Medipol Basaksehir | 23 | 12 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 40 |
| 7 | Kayserispor | 24 | 11 | 2 | 11 | 0 | 35 |
| 8 | Konyaspor | 25 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 34 |
| 9 | Fatih Karagumruk | 23 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 30 |
| 10 | Antalyaspor | 25 | 8 | 4 | 13 | -8 | 28 |
| 11 | Alanyaspor | 24 | 7 | 7 | 10 | -9 | 28 |
| 12 | KasImpasa | 25 | 7 | 5 | 13 | -13 | 26 |
| 13 | Gaziantep FC | 24 | 6 | 7 | 11 | -5 | 25 |
| 14 | Ankaragucu | 23 | 7 | 4 | 12 | -8 | 25 |
| 15 | Sivasspor | 24 | 6 | 6 | 12 | -9 | 24 |
| 16 | Istanbulspor | 24 | 7 | 3 | 14 | -21 | 24 |
| 17 | Giresunspor | 24 | 5 | 8 | 11 | -19 | 23 |
| 18 | Hatayspor | 23 | 6 | 5 | 12 | -25 | 23 |
| 19 | Umraniyespor | 25 | 5 | 7 | 13 | -10 | 22 |