Beşiktaş celebrates league title in style

ISTANBUL

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Champion Beşiktaş finished the Spor Toto Super League season on a high note, beating Osmanlıspor 4-0 at home on June 3, as players and fans celebrated the team’s 15th league title.

As part of the celebrations, a flotilla of about 100 ships embarked upon a cruise of the Bosphorus in Istanbul ahead of the match.

The flotilla departed from the Asian side of the city and headed to Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district on the European side to celebrate the team’s second consecutive Turkish League title.

Around 50,000 fans accompanied the flotilla on both sides of the Bosporus by lighting firework, flares and thousands of torches while holding flags and chanting slogans.

After the victory against Osmanlıspor, Beşiktaş was handed the league trophy and the celebrations continued outside the stadium.

Cenk Tosun opened the scoring for the champion against Osmanlıspor in the 16th minute, before Dusko Tosic made it two 15 minutes later.

Vincent Aboubakar scored the third in the 73rd minute, while Cenk completed a double in the last minute to increase his season tally to 20 goals and become the top scorer for Beşiktaş. He finished runner-up in the race for the league’s top goal scorer, behind Alanyaspor’s Vagner Love, who scored 23.

Also on June 3, Bursaspor managed to stay in the top flight after defeating Trabzonspor 2-1 in its last match of the season.

Bursaspor, which started the game just two points above the relegation zone, needed to bag three points to keep 16th-placed Çaykur Rizespor at bay.  
   
Rizespor won against Alanyaspor 1-0 at home, hoping Bursaspor would lose points to stay away from the relegation zone.

Bursaspor players and fans went into shock when the home side scored in the 55th minute. 

But the visitors started a comeback just six minutes later, scoring a crucial equalizer thanks to Christobal Jorquera.      

Then Bursaspor managed to score in the 69th minute with Pablo Batalla, completing the comeback and guaranteeing survival for proud club, which won the league title in 2010. Still, Bursa endured a miserable second half of the season, picking up just 11 points after finishing the first half in a respectable fifth spot.  
    
Rizespor, despite winning its last match, joined Adanaspor and Gaziantepspor in bidding farewell to the league. 

Meanwhile, Fenerbahçe, which won 3-1 at Adanaspor on June 3 to finish in third spot ahead of archrival Galatasaray, has announced that former player and coach Aykut Kocaman will be back in charge for the next season.

Kocaman, whose Konyaspor surprisingly grabbed this season’s Turkish Cup, said it was his “duty to be available whenever Fenerbahçe needs me.”

Fenerbahçe will play two qualification stages for a berth in next season’s Europa League group stage, while Galatasaray will play in three qualifications, meaning it will be forced to start its preparations for the new season no later than the end of this month.

By virtue of winning the cup, Konyaspor secured a direct berth to the group stage of the Europa League.