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Beşiktaş reins in Alex and reduces Fener to novice
Beşiktaş coach Mustafa Denizli, a master tactician, therefore knew one of Fenerbahçe’s weaknesses even before their Turkcell Super League derby at İstanbul’s İnönü Stadium kicked of at 8 p.m. on Saturday. He capitalized on it by keeping dangerman Alex under close control.
This simple formula worked wonders as the Canaries, with an incapacitated Alex, were reduced not only to soccer novices but were also walloped 3-0 and returned to their nest empty-handed.
Apart from the 45th-minute free kick by Alex that rebounded off the woodwork and back into play, the Brazilian was a somnambulist -- literally speaking. And the misty weather at İnönü aided sleepwalking and made it even sweeter.
Going into this match, defending champion Beşiktaş was third in the 17-team standings, trailing Fenerbahçe by seven points. So a Beşiktaş defeat should have almost knocked the Eagles out of this season’s championship contention.
Second half changes
After a goalless first half, Denizli brought in Chile leftie Rodrigo Tello to replace misfiring winger Serdar Özkan, and that signaled the beginning of the end for the Canaries. And barely nine minutes into the second half, Beşiktaş German midfielder Michael Fink broke the deadlock, whacking in a cracker of a shot into the back of the net after a perfect cross from the left flank by man of the match İbrahim Üzülmez.
Three minutes later, in the 57th to be more precise, Brazilian striker Deivson Rogério da Silva (Bobo) doubled the score for the Eagles, slotting a Tello pass past helpless Fener keeper Volkan Demirel.
Fener’s Turkey winger Kazım Kazım got a direct red in the 75th from referee Fırat Aydınus, which meant more misery for the Canaries, who were already two goals down.
Master passer Üzülmez was again on target seven minutes from time to provide libero Uğur İnceman, who came in as a replacement for veteran midfielder Yusuf Şimşek in the 68th, with a perfect pass and Uğur made no mistake in tapping the ball in -- thereby putting the final nail in the coffin of the Canaries.
Prudent performance
The victory means the Eagles are only four points behind the Canaries, a team they trailed by as many as points earlier in the season. And that’s a commendable fight back from Denizli, whose team had been declared dead and buried by the naysayers in the local media.
And what is hard to understand is that some Beşiktaş fans were still calling for the head of Chairman Yıldırım Demirören, who stayed away from İnönü feigning illness. But every Tom, Dick and Harry knows why the chairman decided not to attend the match.
“We played extremely prudently and with discipline,” a visibly happy Denizli said after the match. And we knew that Fenerbahçe is a team which leaves gaping holes in its midfield and defense after falling behind,” he further stated.
“We had glaring chances in previous matches but could not convert them, and I think we have broken that jinx today [Saturday]. The important thing was to stay in touch with the [league] frontrunners when the going was bad and we succeeded in doing so. This victory will certainly add color to our performance and boost our confidence,” Denizli added, apparently alluding to this week’s Champions League match against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
For his part, Fenerbahçe’s German coach Christoph Daum said: “First of all I congratulate Beşiktaş. We played very well in the first half but I cannot say the same for the second. We made silly mistakes and paid dearly for it. We will therefore have to extract lessons from these mistakes and try not to repeat them again,” he further asserted.
And the Fener defeat was further compounded by the fact that attacking midfielder Emre Belözoğlu limped off the pitch and initial reports said he will be sidelined for at least four weeks.
In the other Super League match on Saturday, the Bursa Green Crocs beat 10-man Gaziantepspor 1-0 away, the only goal of the match coming from substitute Romanian midfielder Stelian Kirita.
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