Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe derby ends in goalless draw

ISTANBUL

Galatasaray was held to a goalless draw at home by archrival Fenerbahçe on Oct. 22, missing a chance to increase its lead over Spor Toto Super League title rivals.

The home side ended the game with 10 men after Younes Belhanda received his second yellow card and was sent off in the 73rd minute.

Despite the draw, Galatasaray extended its stay atop league standings, but coach Igor Tudor rued a series of “unfortunate” incidents during the game.

“We made a good start to the game but then Serdar Aziz got injured,” the Croatian said at a post-game press conference. “It is not good to have to change the game plan you have worked on. We played our best game do far in the second half. We were good and were challenging our opponent, but then Belhanda was sent off. We are now looking to the future. The league title race is a marathon,” Tudor said.

“I always want to win. I told my players before the game that one match will not make us champions and we will not lose the title in one game. Even though we did not win, one point with 10 men is still good. Now we will focus on the Trabzonspor match,” he added.

Galatasaray’s French striker Bafetimbi Gomis said his team could not live up to the expectation.

“We could not play as well as we did in previous games, but we still grabbed a point and extended our unbeaten run,” Gomis added.

Fenerbahçe coach Aykut Kocaman said drawing against a 10-man Galatasaray was “not something to celebrate.”

“We had our chances in the first half but we could not score,” Kocaman told
reporters. “We wanted to keep that rhythm in the second half but Galatasaray dominated the game until they went down to 10 men. This is not a result we are very happy about against a 10-man opponent, he added.

The draw means that Galatasaray is now without a win in its last nine Istanbul derbies against Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş.

Also on Oct. 22, Kayserispor beat Konyaspor 2-1, handing the visiting side its sixth loss of the season. There were no goals in Sivas as Sivasspor and Bursaspor played.

In Oct. 21’s games, cellar-dweller Osmanlıspor grabbed its second victory of the season with a 3-0 home win against Karabükspor, Akhisarspor came from two goals behind to grab a 3-3 home draw against 10-man Gençlerbirliği, and Trabzonspor failed to make an impressive start in its first game under new coach Rıza Çalımbay, losing 1-0 at newcomer Malatyaspor.

On Oct. 20, Göztepe was held to a 3-3 draw at home by Alanyaspor and Antalyaspor beat Kasımpaşa 2-1 at home.
Defending champion Beşiktaş was set to host last season’s runner-up Başakşehir in the last game of Week 9 late