Beşiktaş saves draw at home with late charge against Galatasaray

Visiting side Galatasaray scored an early goal when striker Eren Derdiyok found the net at Vodafone Arena. Eren followed the ball, deflected it from the crossbar and tapped it into Beşiktaş’s net in the eighth minute.      
In the 44th minute, the home side could not stop Galatasaray’s Portuguese winger Bruma, as he dribbled past the defense before putting the ball into the net to make it 2-0.      

Beşiktaş pulled one back in the 73rd minute when an unmarked Marcelo’s head shot on a Ricardo Quaresma cross put the ball into the goal. 

The defending champion equalized five minutes later, when Turkish striker Cenk Tosun hit the ball without trapping it and his shot beat Galatasaray goalkeeper Fernando Muslera.      

Both teams took risks for the rest of the match to take the lead, however the clash ended 2-2. 

Beşiktaş coach Şenol Güneş was content with one point after going two goals down in the first half.

“We were a little bit in a panic under pressure in the first half,” he said after the game. 

“We were slow with the ball and made it easier for our opponents to apply pressure. In the second half, we were the side applying the pressure.”

Galatasaray coach Jan Olde Riekerink meanwhile was ruing missing out on the victory. 

“The footballers were probably in the mood to preserve the score in the second half, we could have scored more goals if we continued to play like we did in the first,” the Dutchman told a post-game press conference.
“We could have won, we could have lost, and we go home with a draw.”

The first Istanbul derby played at Beşiktaş’s new home Vodafone Arena also marked a first for thousands of fans and was nostalgic for many other supporters, since the ban on away-side fans from watching games among the four major teams in Turkey was lifted. 

Also on Sept. 24, Başakşehir’s perfect run was stopped by high-flying Osmanlıspor in a 2-2 draw in Istanbul. 
Home side Başakşehir came from two goals behind to maintain its unbeaten record and extend its stay atop the Spor Toto Super League standings. 

Also on Sept. 24, Trabzonspor grabbed its second win of the season with a 1-0 home victory against Konyaspor.

In Sept. 23’s game, Antalyaspor, whose squad did not include starting striker Samuel Eto’o since he had been dropped out of the squad by the club administration, was held to a goalless draw by Akhisar Belediye.