Beşiktaş hosts Fenerbahçe for second time in a week


After handing Fenerbahçe a 3-1 thrashing Sunday, Beşiktaş will host its city-rival for a second time this week for the first leg of Ziraat Turkish Cup semifinals tomorrow.

The Black Eagles are in a position to build on their best stretch of play in the past month. After beating the Yellow Canaries at home, Beşiktaş is third in the Super League with 44 points. Now they will need to defend their home turf once again against the Canaries.

On their way to the semis, Beşiktaş eliminated Grandmedical Manisaspor, Osmanlıspor and Gençlerbirliği while on the other hand, Fenerbahçe advanced to the last four by defeating Adana Demirspor, Istanbulspor and Akın Çorap Giresunspor.

As for the other semifinal, Galatasaray traveled to Teleset Mobilya Akhisarspor Tuesday.

The Lions managed to grab a 2-1 victory against Akhisarspor and the second leg of the tie will be played on April 17.

After going 1-0 down after just 19 minutes, Galatasaray responded quickly to equalize after only two minutes. Galatasaray found the winning goal in the 88th minute through Sinan Gümüş, giving it an away goal advantage going into the second leg.

The Ziraat Turkish Cup is a football cup competition that has been run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. A record 156 teams compete in the tournament. After five knockout rounds, a round-robin group stage is played from which group winners and runners-up play in the quarterfinals and the semis.

Galatasaray knocked out last year's winners Atiker Konyaspor in the quarterfinals.