Beşiktaş 0-0 Antalyaspor: It didn’t rain goals against Antalyaspor on Sunday at Besiktas, but stuffed toys. Supporters of both Turkish clubs showered thousands of stuffed toys after just over four minutes to support the young victims of the country’s earthquakes.
In Turkey, football is no more than a welcome distraction in these times. Earthquakes in the country have claimed tens of thousands of victims. Referee Abdulkadir Bitigen stopped the match between Besiktas and Antalyaspor after exactly four minutes and seventeen seconds, the time when the earthquakes occurred twenty days ago.
At that moment, supporters of both clubs threw thousands of stuffed toys on the pitch. Players and others present then collected them. The stuffed animals are brought to the affected area and handed to children. And the match? It ended goalless. In the Süper Lig, the first round of play since the natural disaster was scheduled this weekend.
Fenerbahce 4-0 Konyaspor
Enner Valencia briefly followed in the footsteps of Johan Cruijff and Erling Haaland on Saturday evening. The Fenerbahçe striker copied a memorable goal from Cruijff in the shirt of Barcelona against Konyaspor.
In September last year, Erling Haaland scored in the Champions League in an acrobatic way against his former employer Borussia Dortmund and that goal reminded City manager Pep Guardiola of a goal by Cruijff for Barcelona in the 1973/74 season against Atlético Madrid.
The Ecuadorian Valencia scored in a similar way against Konyaspor on Saturday in a league game of Fenerbahçe. That’s what the veteran did in the injury time of the first half. It was his second goal of the evening for Valencia.
This comes from the striker that has scored the last six World Cup goals for Ecuador. He followed in the footsteps of the Russian Oleg Salenko (1994), the Italian Paolo Rossi (1982) and the Portuguese Eusébio (1966).
Partly due to Valencia’s ‘Cruijff goal’, Fenerbahçe won well against Konyaspor. Jayden Oosterwolde came in for the home team after more than an hour. The former left back of FC Twente came over from Parma in the past transfer period. Fenerbahçe is six points behind leader Galatasaray after 22 games in the Süper Lig.
