Fenerbahce ended the season in farcical style, going down to seven players, having had four players sent off from the 84th minute onwards. Those dismissed included Pierre Webó who scored an equaliser with two minutes of normal time remaining, but then committed a recklessly high foul in the sixth minute of injury time.
Many European leagues have been decided for weeks – if not months – but in Turkey things have been decided in the penultimate week.
Galatasaray swept aside cross-city rivals Beşiktaş 2-0 at the Turk Telekom Arena with goals courtesy of Wesley Sneijder and the midfielder Yasin Öztekin. The victory meant Fenerbahce needed a win over fourth-placed Basaksehir to have any chance of staying in the title race. Speaking after the win over Besiktas, Galatasaray’s Hamza Hamzaoglu: “We will win the final game and earn our right to be champions.”
Pierre Webo attempts a tackle > http://t.co/bcKQ0hvXHU
— Matchbook.com (@TeamMatchBook) May 26, 2015
The former Galatasaray striker Mehmet Batdal opened the scoring in the 53rd minute and doubled his side’s lead just 10 minutes later leaving away fans aghast. The Yellow Canaries looked out for the count and it did not help that they were up against a side with a fine defensive record – 17 clean sheets in 32 games, with just 26 goals conceded.
The former Brazil international Diego was able to pull one back scored in the 81st minute. Yet three minutes later this was looking nothing more than a consolation goal as the Fenerbahce midfielder Mehmet Topuz was sent off for stamping on Marcio Mossoro. Undeterred, the visitors fought on and were rewarded with an equaliser from the second-half substitute Webo in the 88th minute.
This caused Fenerbahce to pour forwards in search of the final blow, but they ended up being hit on the break and when goalkeeper Volkan Demirel was beaten, Bruno Alves elbowed a goalward effort off the line. He was sent off and the left-back Caner Erkin was also given his marching orders for dissent. From the resulting penalty, Batdal had the chance to complete his hat-trick but blazed the ball over the bar.
Webó became the fourth player to be dismissed after kicking Alexandru Epureanu in the head.
Ismail Kartal, the Fenerbahce manager, was full of cryptic messages after the game: “I will not forget all the things that happened this season until the day I die.” Hamzaoglu replied: “Don’t take any notice of what Ismail Kartal says for the next few days, he will probably end up regretting it himself.”
And while Fenerbahce ended the game with four red cards, Galatasaray were celebrating winning a record 20th league title.
