Demba Ba: If we get title I’ll invite fans to morning prayer

Footballer Ba has made interesting comments to FourFourTwo football magazine. He has invited every Beşiktaş fan to go with him to morning prayer at the Sultanahmet Mosque (Blue Mosque) if they become champions, before telling the British magazine his gripes about the rivalry between his team, Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray. The Senegalese player, who said that nobody believes Beşiktaş can become champions except for their fans, noted that nobody praises the Black Eagles like they do with Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray.

What do you do on an ordinary day?

As the sun rises, I wake up and go to the mosque for my morning prayers. I sleep a little bit more when I go back to the house and wake up early to get to practice. I take a nap after I return from the practice and then spend some time with my wife and children. Of course, I perform my prayers between these activities. When I come back home in the evening, I sleep again.

A follower of you on Twitter told you that he cannot wake up early to perform morning prayers and asked you to wake him up. You replied his by saying "Give me your number." Did you call him?

I did (he laughs). I woke up early to dress up for the mosque and on the way I remembered him. I called over and over again but nobody answered. I guess it was a wrong number.

What are Beşiktaş's advantages on the long road to the championship?

The team's play and the quality of its players are the biggest advantages of Beşiktaş. I am saying this to get on his good side but I think Slaven Bilic is the Super League's best coach. I love him as I love Beşiktaş. Nobody believes that we will be champion except for Beşiktaş fans. I think we are not respected as we should be considering our problems with the stadium.

Despite all these, how will you celebrate if Beşiktaş are crowned as champions?

I want to see all Beşiktaş fans at Sultanahmet Mosque for morning players if we become champion. They should get up early after we will have done everything we could to become champions!

Last weekend, Beşiktaş were grateful for a strange Demba Ba winner as they remained one point behind Turkish Super Lig leaders Fenerbahçe. A bizarre goal from Demba Ba helped Beşiktaş to a scrappy 2-1 over Mersin İdmanyurdu to maintain the pressure on Fenerbahçe, who defeated Karabukspor by the same scoreline.

Ba's initial shot was saved by Nikolay Mihaylov, but the ball rebounded back off the striker, who had fallen to the floor, and spooned into the net for his 19th goal of the season.

Separately, Beşiktaş sold their allocation of away tickets for the Europa League Round of 32 clash against Liverpool within hours of putting them on sale. The club released a statement confirming that all tickets had been sold. The statement read: "All away tickets for the UEFA Europa League Round of 32 tie against Liverpool at Anfield have been sold. We want to thank our fans for the interest shown." The Black Eagles were however, criticized for selling tickets for double the face value. Beşiktaş are selling tickets worth 30 pounds at face value for 60 pounds. The additional 30 pounds will be used as a donation to the club. The Eagles released a statement on their official website regarding the pricing policy. The statement read: "A 30 pounds donation fee will be added to the tickets that cost 30 pounds at face value." The away tickets will only be sold in Istanbul by the club however, third party unlicensed ticket sellers are reported to be selling tickets in excess of 100 pounds in England.