Fenerbahçe wins Intercontinental Derby
ISTANBUL
Fenerbahçe continued its good run in the Turkish Süper Lig, claiming its seventh win in its last eight games by beating Galatasaray 2-0 on April 10 and climbing up to the second spot.
Miha Zajc scored the opener in the 26th minute for the home side against its archrival, while Serdar Dursun added another in the 68th minute to give Fenerbahçe three points.
With Konyaspor losing 2-1 at struggling Rizespor on April 9, Fenerbahçe sits in the second spot with 58 points, 13 points adrift leader Trabzonspor, which was held to a goalless draw at Gaziantep.
On the other hand, Galatasaray is in the 14th spot with 41 points after being handed its 13th loss of the season.
Galatasaray coach Dominic Torrent argued that the Fenerbahçe game was a tight loss.
“I don’t think it was a match where one side was superior,” he said following the game.
“Galatasaray’s situation is not normal this year. A team that finds three positions in the whole game against us scores two goals. If we think regardless of the result, both teams were on a similar level tonight.”
Fenerbahçe coach İsmail Kartal congratulated his players and thanked the club’s supporters who packed the stadium.
“Galatasaray-Fenerbahçe derbies always leave their mark,” he said.
“We have been each other’s rivals since eternity. I told my players how meaningful this is and how such victories leave their mark for many years. They were also aware of this, and we took the field with this motivation.”
Elsewhere in the Süper Lig over the weekend, Başakşehir won 2-0 against Sivasspor, Adana Demirspor won 3-1 at home over Altay, Beşiktaş thrashed Alanyaspor 4-1, Göztepe lost 2-1 at home to Kayserispor and Karagümrük claimed a 3-2 victory against city rival Kasımpaşa.
Meanwhile, Malatyaspor became the first team to have been relegated to the lower division after losing 1-0 at home to Giresunspor.
