None of the main challengers managed to reduce their deficit to Galatasaray after Sunday’s matches in the 11th round of the Turkish Super League. Trabzonspor, Beşiktaş and Fenerbahçe won, but the leaders had already taken all three points with a victory over Amed Sportif Faaliyetler on Saturday.
Galatasaray prevailed 4-3 and remained top with 28 points. Trabzonspor are second with 25 points, Beşiktaş occupy fourth place with 22, while Fenerbahçe climbed to sixth with 19 points. Thus, the gap between the leaders and the three traditionally strong clubs remained three, six and nine points respectively. The figures are based on the Turkish Football Federation standings after all matches in the round had been completed.
Fenerbahçe made the strongest statement
Fenerbahçe thrashed Arca Çorum 5-0 away from home. Mason Greenwood opened the scoring in the 11th minute, while İrfan Can Kahveci doubled the lead in the 21st. Kahveci scored his second and his team’s third goal in the 56th minute, Greenwood added a fourth in the 63rd, and Oğuz Aydın completed the scoring in the 75th.
After the match, coach Emre Belözoğlu told Anadolu Agency: “For us, this is a perfect start“. He added that the team must continue to win one match at a time, with the gap to Galatasaray remaining at nine points.
Vlahović scores twice for Beşiktaş
Beşiktaş defeated Gençlerbirliği 3-0 at Tüpraş Stadium and recorded their sixth consecutive home league victory. Dušan Vlahović scored in the 20th and 45th minutes, while Poku netted the third goal in the 85th.
Gençlerbirliği played with ten men from the 22nd minute after Metecan Baltacı was shown a second yellow card. After the match, the visitors’ coach Bernd Stork admitted: “Beşiktaş are on another level“. The victory left the Black and Whites six points off the top.
Trabzonspor retain the closest position
Trabzonspor won 2-0 away to Alanyaspor and remained the only one of Sunday’s challengers in direct proximity to Galatasaray. The team have 25 points and trail the champions by three.
Despite Sunday’s three victories, the standings at the top did not change significantly because Galatasaray also won their match. After the international break, the leaders will host Samsunspor on November 21. On the same day, Fenerbahçe will visit Kocaelispor, while on November 22 Beşiktaş will play Konyaspor and Trabzonspor will host Eyüpspor.
Sources: aa.com.tr, ajansspor.com, haberturk.com