Beşiktaş clinches Turkish Super League title

ISTANBUL

Beşiktaş crowned itself Turkish Super League champions on May 15, posting a 3-1 victory over Ankara’s Osmanlıspor to clinch its 14th title and first since 2009.

Beşiktaş entered the day six points up on closest rival Fenerbahçe and needed just a point to secure the title on the penultimate day of action. As it is, the Black Eagles took all three points, rendering Fenerbahçe’s 2-1 victory over Ankara’s other top-flight side, Gençlerbirliği, academic.

Defender Marcelo broke the deadlock in the 21st minute with a header off a corner kick for the home side. Three minutes later, he scored his second when he found a ball outside the box following another corner. Incredibly, the goals represented Marcelo’s first brace of his career.

Beşiktaş’s prolific German striker Mario Gomez, loaned from Italy’s Fiorentina at the start of the season, found the net in the third minute of the second half, reinforcing his place as the league’s top scorer with 26 goals so far, six more than Antalyaspor’s Samuel Eto’o. 

The comfortable 3-0 lead provided ample opportunity for Beşiktaş supporters to hit the streets early to begin the celebrations, as Cameroonian international Pierre Webo’s strike for Osmanlıspor with 16 minutes remaining offered little more than consolation. More supporters poured onto the streets at the final whistle, turning the Çarşı area of Beşiktaş, as well as Taksim Square and other areas in Ankara and İzmir into a sea of black and white.

Gomez has scored in his last six consecutive appearances, but his future with the team remains in doubt as several clubs, including the Premier League’s Manchester United and Manchester City and the Bundesliga’s Wolfsburg, are reportedly interested in his services.

Şenol Güneş, the experienced Turkey coach who took Turkey’s men’s team to the lofty heights of third place at the FIFA 2002 World Cup, clinched his first title as a coach in his career. 

Beşiktaş will now have the opportunity to enjoy Champions League football at its recently opened Vodafone Arena on the shores of the Bosphorus.