Fenerbahçe maintains league lead, pursued by Galatasaray and Beşiktaş

ISTANBUL

Fenerbahçe’s Pierre Webo celebrates after scoring his side’s second goal against Çaykur Rizespor over the weekend. Fernarbahçe won the Nov 8 match 2-1.

Fenerbahçe maintained its lead atop the Spor Toto Super League after the Week 9 games, while its archrivals continued in hot pursuit.

Fenerbahçe won 2-1 against 10-man Çaykur Rizespor at the Şükrü Saraçoğlu Stadium in Istanbul on Nov. 8, while second-place Galatasaray and third-place Beşiktaş also won with the same score, against Kardemir Karabükspor and Istanbul Başakşehir respectively.

Fenerbahçe’s Czech defender Michal Kadlec found the net twice at the Saraçoğlu, once with an own goal. With 10 minutes to go, forward Pierre Webo scored the winning goal for his team, while Yellow Canaries’ Dutch forward Dirk Kuyt also missed a penalty.

Despite the victory, Fenerbahçe coach İsmail Kartal was furious at the referee after the match.      
“We won an important derby last week and performed well against Rizespor this week. We dominated the game from start to end and could have won by a bigger margin. There were three penalties in the game, the referee only gave us one, that really disappointed me,” Kartal said.

“I didn’t make up these rules. They gave us a seminar at the start of the season, telling us what constitutes and doesn’t constitute a penalty. It is unfortunate that I have to bring this up,” he added.
The Fenerbahçe boss also praised the performance of his team, which was lacking a number of key players.

“We had a lot of injured players going into the game. We are coping well despite the injury problems and we have to do so if we are to become champions. I want to thank my players for their performances today,” he said.

In Karabük, Galatasaray’s Cameroonian center-back Aurelien Chedjou scored an early opener in the third minute, but Kardemir Karabükspor drew level through Eren Güngor in the second half.

The visiting side ended up winning thanks to a goal from its Turkish international striker Umut Bulut in the 71st minute.     

Meanwhile, nine-man Beşiktaş managed to come from behind on Nov. 9 to beat Istanbul’s Başakşehir away from home.

Alexandru Epureanu put the home side ahead in the 42nd minute, while Beşiktaş’s Senegalese striker Demba Ba scored the equalizer in the 63rd. Turkish-Swiss winger Kerim Frei later fired in the winner for Beşiktaş 12 minutes later.

Two Beşiktaş defenders, Pedro Franco and İsmail Köybaşı, were sent off in second half, so face suspensions in the next league match.

Also on Nov. 9, Trabzonspor, which headed onto the pitch under assistant coaches after the club parted ways with Vahid Halilhodzic over the weekend, managed to overcome its troubles by defeating Torku Konyaspor 3-2 at the Hüseyin Avni Aker Stadium. Trabzonspor’s Paraguayan target man Oscar Cardozo found the net twice in the victory.

In the weekend’s other games, Mersin İdman Yurdu kept its place in the fourth spot in standings with a 2-1 victory at home against Balıkesirspor, Gaziantepspor beat visiting Akhisar Belediye 1-0, Kayseri Erciyesspor held Bursaspor to a 1-1 draw, while Sivasspor and Eskişehirspor shared the spoils with the same result. Ankara’s Gençlerbirliği twice led at Kasımpaşa, but the home team managed to come back to grab a 2-2 draw.