On Friday evening, Fenerbahçe fans watched an exact repeat of last week's Kocaelispor match. The only difference was that this time Fenerbahçe were the visiting team and that their opponents Bursaspor managed to bag two goals in the last eight minutes of play to secure their win. Fenerbahçe's title hopes slowly began fading away, as the Yellow Canaries left three important points at Bursa: 2-1.
This was to be the fifth clash between Bursaspor and Fenerbahçe this season. Either than the Turkcell Süper Lig match in the first half of the season, the two teams were in the same Fortis Turkish Cup group and had also played two fixtures in the knock-out phase of the cup. The Yellow Canaries had owned the Bursa Crocs in all the four matches played prior to Friday evening's match.
Fenerbahçe had one very important name missing from their squad, as captain Alex de Souza was out due to an injury. This led to Luis Aragones fielding last season's top goalscorers of La Liga and the Turkcell Süper Lig, Dani Güiza and Semih Şentürk, side by side in attack.
Volkan Demirel was back in the Canaries goal, after his two match ban was cut down prior to Friday evening's match. Meanwhile, Selçuk Şahin had replaced Deniz Barış in central midfield as the team's defensive midfielder.
Fenerbahçe was once again kicking off the action with the opening game of the week and was hoping to win this time. And the Yellow Canaries gave a quick start to the match as Spanish striker Dani Güiza scored in the fourth minute of play. Uğur Boral passed out to Güiza who entered the box and cooly flicked the ball over Bursaspor keeper Ivankov: 0-1. The Canaries striker was slightly off-sides when Uğur passed the ball in front to him, as the replay showed very clearly.
The Yellow Canaries were up early, but there was a whole ninety minutes ahead of both teams. Bursaspor was seeking to retaliate with forward Sercan Yıldırım, but neither of his shots were challenging Fener keeper Volkan Demirel.
Dani Güiza was close to getting on the scoresheet for a second time on 17 minutes, but his shot from inside a flurry of defenders in the box brushed by the Bursaspor post. Eight minutes later, he rushed to get hold of the ball when Bekir Ozan's back pass fell short, but Ivankov was fast to punch the ball away.
Bursaspor was continuing their hunt for goals at the opposite side of the pitch, this time with Korean forward Shin Young on 26 minutes. Shin's strong shot however, failing to beat goalkeeper Volkan Demirel.
Eight minutes later, Fenerbahçe was yet again close to finding their second goal of the match. This time it was Semih Şentürk who missed an important opportunity. Uğur Boral rushed in from the left flank and sent the ball inside the box where Semih took a shot on goal, but Bursaspor's Mustafa Keçeli slid to send the ball to a corner-kick.
Fenerbahçe's Emre Belözoğlu and Bursaspor's Bekir Ozan received yellow cards on 38 minutes, for their tackles on each other. Both players thus receiving their fourth consecutive yellow cards and being suspended for the following Turkcell Süper Lig fixture.
Bursaspor could have got one back before the half-time whistle, but defender Tuna Üzümcü was unable to kick a ball that was crossed inside the box from a corner-kick. The ball was eventually cleared away by the Fener defence. Meanwhile, it was seen on the replay that Diego Lugano had shoved a Bursaspor player inside the box during this position.
This time it was Bursaspor who found quick chances in the second half of the match. On 49 minutes, Bursa's Sercan Yıldırım passed by two defenders, entered the Fener box and found a one-on-one with goalkeeper Volkan Demirel. But he missed as he sent the ball wide of the Fenerbahçe goal.
Bursaspor was continuing the waves of attack, three minutes later, with Bekir Ozan Has. Bekir had received a good pass from Bursaspor midfielder Volkan Şen, but Bekir's shot hit the advertising panels to the right of the Canaries goal. One minute later, Sercan Yıldırım was injured after colliding with Volkan Demirel as he was trying to header a cross he had received from the left flank.
Bursaspor was adding on the pressure to find an equaliser and was threatening the Fenerbahçe defence. The Yellow Canaries found a chance on 58 minutes with right back Gökhan Gönül who headered the ball at the back post. The ball went wide of the Bursaspor goal.
Fenerbahçe defender Diego Lugano received a yellow card on 61 minutes, that earned him a suspension for the Week 26 fixture against Eskişehirspor. Meanwhile Luis Aragones made his first substitution of the match replacing Deivid de Souza with right winger Gökhan Emreciksin.
Bursaspor was building even more pressure on Fenerbahçe now with attacks from Volkan Şen, Gökhan Güleç and Maxim Romashenko, the latter two who were added onto the game by Bursa coach Ertuğrul Sağlam. Luis Aragones was also trying to strengthen his midfield this time changing his left winger, introducing Gökçek Vederson into the game.
Brazilian left back Roberto Carlos was close to scoring from a long distance free-kick on 75 minutes, but Bursaspor goalie Ivankov managed to parry Carlos' strong shot away. Four minutes later, Selçuk Şahin gave it a go as the defensive midfielder took a shot on Emre Belözoğlu's cross, but his shot was blocked by the Bursaspor defence.
Fenerbahçe came again, this time on 84 minutes with right winger Gökhan Emreciksin. Gökhan received Dani Güiza's pass and entered the Bursa box from the right hand side and quickly took a strong shot, but Bursa keeper Ivankov did well to keep the ball out.
The Yellow Canaries had to miss three times, before Bursaspor found the equaliser on 86 minutes with defender Tuna Üzümcü. Maxim Romashenko's free-kick from the left midfield found Tuna in an empty position inside the box. Tuna freely kicked the ball behind the net: 1-1. Goalkeeper Volkan Demirel was just looking in the air and did not take a dive to save the ball.
Fenerbahçe had been leading for more than eighty minutes, but had been weak in attack thus unable to extend their lead. And now with the score equalised, both teams had only a few minutes left to find the winning goal of the match. Luis Aragones meanwhile was making his final substitution of the night, replacing Semih Şentürk with Gürhan Gürsoy.
It would be Bursaspor who scored the winning goal on the fourth and final minute of additional time, 90+4. Referee Halis Özkahya called for a penalty when Gökçek Vederson tackled Sercan Yıldırım inside the Fener box. Bursaspor's goalkeeper Ivankov took the penalty very cooly and sent Volkan Demirel to the wrong side to win the match for his team: 2-1.
Bursaspor had scored twice in the final eight minutes of play and had cruised over a very dismal and poor Fenerbahçe who were unable to finish the game with the 1-0 lead they had protected for the majority of the game.
STADIUM: Bursa Atatürk Stadium
REFEREES: Halis Özkahya, Adil Sinem & Muhittin Gürses (assistant referees), Abdullah Yılmaz (fourth official)
BURSASPOR: Ivankov, Tuna Üzümcü, Ömer Erdoğan, İbrahim Öztürk, Mustafa Keçeli, Veli Acar (64th, Maxim Romashenko), Mustafa Sarp, Bekir Ozan Has, Volkan Şen (84th, Halil Zeybek), Shin Young (63rd, Gökhan Güleç), Sercan Yıldırım
FENERBAHÇE: Volkan Demirel, Gökhan Gönül, Diego Lugano, Edu Dracena, Roberto Carlos, Deivid de Souza (61st, Gökhan Emreciksin), Emre Belözoğlu, Selçuk Şahin, Uğur Boral (73rd, Gökçek Vederson), Dani Güiza, Semih Şentürk (82nd, Gürhan Gürsoy)
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