Beşiktaş and Fenerbahçe created one of the most bizarre games ever

One of the most important games as the finish line gets closer in the Turkish Super League, the İstanbul derby between Beşiktaş and Fenerbahçe, turned out to be much more different and awkward than expected. Beşiktaş scored just before the half-time whistle, Fenerbahçe got two red cards and everything seemed under control until the 94th minute. But then, all of a sudden, despite there being no immediate threat from the Fenerbahçe forwards, Beşiktaş goalkeeper Fabri and center-back Marcelo collided in the air and the ball slowly fell toward the Beşiktaş goal in front of 40,000 Beşiktaş fans who could not believe their eyes. As they say, football has very interesting ways of implementing justice, and what this game truly deserved was what was delivered in the last minute of the game, in the most bizarre manner.

First of all, again, both teams performed shamefully, there were simply no set-pieces that included more than one person. The teams exchanged long balls throughout the 90 minutes and there was nothing worth watching except the primitive joy of beating an opponent. For some reason, I am still shocked when I see such cheapness in Turkish football, as if it wasn't the thousandth time I've seen fifth-class football from Turkish teams, silly me. But still, as Turkish football is financially getting bigger, catching up financially with its European counterparts, while society is ready for the next level of football, I will never stop shouting "The king is naked."

The statistics may favor Beşiktaş as the dominant side in the game, but those statistics are still bound to human interpretation and I, as an observer, saw no casual relationship between the occasions in which Beşiktaş got the stats and them being the dominant side. Fenerbahçe, with an usual visiting strategy, started the game with six defenders and used no other plan than kicking the ball to Jeremain Lens and Moussa Sow on the wings. Thus, Fenerbahçe gave the initiative to Beşiktaş, but unfortunately Beşiktaş lacked a sophisticated strategy to utilize the time and space Fenerbahçe left them.

Beşiktaş coach Şenol Güneş put six men in defense just like his Dutch counterpart Dick Advocaat, made the strategy simply give the ball to Ricardo Quaresma or Anderson Talisca. The only difference was that sometimes defensive midfielder Oğuzhan Özyakup joined the attacks, but given there were no consistency in his efforts, I do not take it as a part of their general strategy. On the other hand, when Fenerbahçe completely by-passed the midfield in the second half, Beşiktaş again made no attempt to take the control of the midfield to create attacking consistency. They found a goal by chance in the final minute of the first half, and then they conceded a goal in the final minute of the second half, that is it.

So, I do not understand the debate over the refereeing and the searching for scapegoats, because there was nothing worthwhile to fight for. As I say every time, Turkish people do not pay broadcasters to broadcast players fighting on the field, they deserve to watch high-quality football. That is why I especially liked the end of this derby, because it showed the cheapness and insignificance of the football being played. Maybe the bizarreness in it was trying to tell us something.