Sore loser Fenerbahçe blames referee for Beşiktaş loss
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Emre Belözoğlu talks to his teammate as Beşiktaş players celebrate a goal. DAILY NEWS photo, Emrah GÜREL
Spor Toto Super League club Fenerbahçe has issued a written statement putting the blame of a 3-2 loss to Beşiktaş on March 3 on the game’s referee.“We congratulate our rival Beşiktaş for their victory and reiterate our respect to their efforts,” the Istanbul club said in the statement. “But it is beyond doubt that the referee’s decisions directly influenced the outcome of the game and maybe the outcome of the league competition.”
Fenerbahçe also called for the resignation of Zekeriya Alp, who heads the Central Referee Committee (MHK) in charge of referee appointments.
Beşiktaş won the last Istanbul derby at the team’s venerable İnönü Stadium March 3 with a last-gasp winner from Olcay Şahan in the third minute of injury time in an absorbing Spor Toto Super League clash.
Beşiktaş, which will temporarily play at another ground next season while Dolmabahçe’s İnönü Stadium is knocked down and replaced by a new arena in the same location, badly wanted to vanquish their cross-town rivals in the final derby at the stadium, but appeared destined to settle for a 2-2 draw following an excellent performance from the always-excellent Moussa Sow, who scored both goals for the visitors.
With the last touch of the game, however, Olcay poked the ball past Fenerbahçe goalkeeper Volkan Demirel, sending the home crowd into raptures with the 3-2 victory.
With the win, Beşiktaş overtook Fenerbahçe for second place in the league standings. The Black Eagles now have 42 points – two more than Fenerbahçe and four fewer than leaders Galatasaray.
Beşiktaş was able to claw into Galatasaray’s lead atop the table after the latter was forced to settle for a 0-0 draw with Eskişehir away on March 2. The Lions’ manager Fatih Terim was not on the sidelines of the match, as he sat out the first of a three-match ban for dissent in last week’s match versus Orduspor.
