Beşiktaş takes over league lead

ISTANBUL

Beşiktaş climbed atop the Turkish Süper Lig standings over the weekend after Galatasaray was held to a shocking 2-2 draw against Sivasspor at home on March 7.

Beşiktaş had won 2-1 against Gaziantep the previous day to increase its point tally to 60, two points ahead of second-placed Galatasaray despite playing one fewer game.

At Türk Telekom stadium, Max Gradel scored an early opener in the ninth minute visiting Sivasspor, before Radamel Falcao responded five minutes later.

Tyler Boyd gave the visitors the lead again before the halftime, while Falcao, who has been struggling with injuries since his arrival in Istanbul last year, successfully converted a penalty shot in the 68th minute to salvage one point for the title hopeful.

Galatasaray coach Fatih Terim rued the missed scoring opportunities after the game.

“It is our greatest desire to play well and win, but sometimes when [the ball] does not go in, it does not go in,” he said.

“Conceding simple goals did not suit us. We are Turkey’s least conceding team, so I am very sad. There were no two points to lose today, but unfortunately, we lost. We will continue. There’s a lot more until the end of the league, we haven’t given up anything.”

On March 6, Vincent Aboubakar scored twice to increase his goal tally for the season to 15 and gave Beşiktaş its fifth consecutive win in the league.

Beşiktaş coach Sergan Yalçın was delighted with his side’s recent performances.

“The level of the team, the individual performances and the work we did in team defense made me happy,” he told a post-game press conference.

“We played a very good game, I am very happy with the game and the score.”

Yalçın was especially happy that his side conceded only one goal in five victories in a row.

“Such numbers are very important in football,” he said.

“I hope we continue on our way with concrete steps from now on.”