Beşiktaş, Fenerbahçe draw in Istanbul derby

ISTANBUL

Beşiktaş was held to a 1-1 draw at home by city rival Fenerbahçe with a late equalizer on March 21 but managed to stay atop the Turkish Süper Lig standings.

The home side took the lead in the 48th minute when Croatian defender Domagoj Vida scored with a header.

In the 61st minute, Beşiktaş’s Cameroonian forward Vincent Aboubakar wasted a critical one-on-one chance as the visiting side’s Turkish goalkeeper Altay Bayındır made one of the handful of critical saves of the night.
Fenerbahçe midfielder Ozan Tufan fired outside the area in the 89th minute to score the equalizer.

After the draw, Beşiktaş still sits atop the Süper Lig standings with 64 points with one game in hand.

Galatasaray, which suffered a shock 4-3 home defeat against Rizespor on March 20, is in the second spot, while third-placed Fenerbahçe has 59 points in 30 matches.

Beşiktaş coach Sergen Yalçın was content with the result, but harshly criticized the game’s referee, Halil Umut Meler.

“The score is not good or bad for us,” Yalçın said.

“We are in the lead. We have opened the gap with one more point. The final part of the league will be played; it is not easy. I congratulate my players for their struggle,” he added.

Yalçın said Meler “did everything to get Fenerbahçe back in the game.”

“We are not happy with the referee, I hope we do not see him in Beşiktaş games again,” Yalçın said.

“We do not want to play with referees who give such interesting decisions,” he added.

This season, Fenerbahçe has not been able to win in derby games against its city rivals Beşiktaş and Galatasaray.

In the first half of the league, Fenerbahçe lost 4-3 to Beşiktaş.

Fenerbahce had a goalless drew with Galatasaray in the first half derby, while it lost the second half’s game by 1-0 at home last month.

Fenerbahçe coach Erol Bulut, who is under immense pressure due to his team’s recent subpar performances, said the visiting side could have won.

“Beşiktaş was superior in the first half, and we were superior in the second half,” Bulut said at a post-game press conference.

“Both sides found enough scoring chances. In the second half, Fenerbahçe was playing under pressure. We did our best, but we got a draw. We came in to win, and therefore we can’t be happy. We have 10 games remaining, and we will do our best,” he added.

Separately, a Fenerbahçe football player has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the club announced on March 21.

In a statement, Fenerbahçe said that the player was omitted from the derby squad.

Fenerbahçe did not disclose the player’s name but said that he had shown symptoms before he tested positive for the virus.

The player was taken to isolation, and his treatment has begun, the club said.

Elsewhere in the Turkish Süper Lig over the weekend, Karagümrük beat Kayserispor 3-0, Gençlerbirliği is not at the bottom of the standings for the first time in weeks thanks to a 2-0 home win over Kasımpaşa, Göztepe lost 5-3 to Sivasspor, Malatyaspor and Gaziantep shared the spoils in a 2-2 draw and Ankaragücü lost 4-1 at Trabzonspor.

On March 21, defending champion Başakşehir failed to win again in a goalless draw at Denizlispor, Antalyaspor won 3-1 against Erzurumspor and Alanyaspor lost 1-0 at Konyaspor.