The Turkish Süper Lig is brand-new to me, so I won’t pretend to be an authority on today’s derby, which saw Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray draw 0-0 at Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium in Istanbul. What I can say is that, despite the unimpressive scoreline, Turkish football has found itself another fan.
Derby Report: Fenerbahce 0-0 Galatasaray--Yellow Canaries Shut Down By Visiting Lions
While Fener’s last three matches resulted in thirteen goals scored by the Yellow Canaries, in this game the home side just couldn’t find the net against an organized Gala defense. What a change from the Lions’ last match, a 4-2 loss to Ankaragücü that saw first-choice goalkeeper Ufuk Ceylan handed a straight red card. Galatasaray’s new coach, Gheorghe Hagi, is no doubt pleased with the draw, although the status quo remains: for the last ten years the team has come away from Şükrü Saracoğlu without a win.
While the first half saw quite a few chances for Fenerbahçe, the Yellow Canaries could only watch as their shots were blocked and sent straight back at them. On the other end, Juan Pablo Pino was giving the Fener defenders plenty to be nervous about, with shots either going just wide of goal or forcing saves from keeper Volkan Demirel. The Lions’ best chance came early in the game when Pino sent a shot past Diego Lugano, but Gökhan Gönül was waiting just behind to clear it off the line.
The second half brought few chances, likely because many players spent much of the time on the ground. The referee let most of these fouls go, although he did find it necessary to hand a yellow to Pino for standing too close during a Fener free kick. The changes made in the second half gave a slight advantage to Galatasaray, and in the last fifteen minutes the Lions used that advantage to once again send their shots straight to keeper Demirel.
Fenerbahçe, on the other hand, replaced Alex with Semih Şentürk in the 70th minute, no doubt hoping that Şentürk would be as impressive as he was on Monday, when he scored the equalizer in Fener's come-from-behind win against Konyaspor. Instead he barely threatened the goal. Miroslav Stoch, tired of seeing his service from the left side result in nothing, took a shot from about 25 yards out, setting one fan's heart a-racing until it missed the bar by at least two feet.
A derby from which many expected much more ends with no goals and few moments that seasoned observers would find thrilling. Fenerbahçe are likely to be disgusted at their inability to score and close in on Bursaspor, whose win against Ankaragücü today put them back on top of the Süper Lig, six points clear of the Yellow Canaries. Yet even without the thrills, I still find myself fascinated by Fenerbahçe. Congrats, Turkish football--you’ve reeled me in.
(Thanks to Ironturk on Twitter for minute-by-minute coverage of this match, without which it would’ve been quite difficult for someone who can’t understand Turkish to puzzle out all of the player names).
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