Beşiktaş beaten at Eskişehir, loses top spot

ESKİŞEHİR

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Beşiktaş has lost the top spot in the Spor Toto Super League standings following a 1-0 loss at Eskişehirspor on Feb. 22.

Eskişehirspor won the game thanks to an early goal scored by Turkish left back Kaan Kanak.

The loss left Beşiktaş second in the standings with 47 points, one point behind Galatasaray, which grabbed a hard-fought 3-2 victory at Sivasspor on Feb. 21, and ended the Istanbul club’s winning streak at four games.

Fenerbahçe was to host underdog Akhisar Belediyespor in the final league game of the week late yesterday, with a victory set to put the side top.

Beşiktaş’s Senegalese prolific forward Demba Ba was unavailable against Eskişehirspor following an injury he suffered while warming up before the match.

Beşiktaş coach Slaven Bilic said after the game that the main reason for the loss was fatigue.

“We expected that after playing a tough game at Liverpool, the Croatian coach said, referring to a 1-0 loss in the Europa League on Feb. 19, adding that he had to field some non-regular players taking the return game on Feb. 26 into account.

“One may criticize the coach for the loss, but the player rotation is not why we lost tonight,” he said.

Elsewhere over the weekend, Kayseri Erciyesspor won 3-0 at home against Torku Konyaspor, Istanbul Başakşehir climbed up to fourth after beating Gaziantepspor 1-0 and Bursaspor was held to a 1-1 draw at home by Çaykur Rizespor.