In the first week of the Spor Toto Super League, reigning champions Beşiktaş started their title defense campaign with a win. Although they played their game against Antalyaspor behind closed doors after receiving a crowd ban due to the brawls that erupted after the Super Cup final last week, Beşiktaş managed to overcome their rivals 2-0 with goals from their new signing Pepe and Cenk Tosun.
The Eagles finished the last two seasons as champions and they maintained their unbeaten run at their new Vodafone Park stadium, which was put into service in the 2015-2016 season. They have won 17 matches and drawn four since then.
Beşiktaş also increased their winning run in the Super League to five matches.
Meanwhile, Pepe, who scored in his first match with Beşiktaş, said, "I am very happy to help Beşiktaş. My job is not to score, but to defend. But if I score I will be happy too."
Regarding a penalty decision that was harshly criticized, Coach Şenol Güneş said, "We did not win the game with the help of the referee. We played a dominant game against our rivals. We want to play faster. We are not ready yet and this is normal. It is not a good thing to get into form in the early stages of the league. Besides, the pitch was very bad and it affected our play. It is not easy to play behind closed doors either."
Elsewhere in Sunday's games, the league's newly promoted team Evkur Yeni Malatyaspor beat Osmanlıspor 3-1 and Trabzonspor won 2-1 against Atiker Konyaspor.
