Later on today in the Turkish Premier Soccer League, known as the Spor Toto Super Lig in Turkey, two of the top teams in the nation will square off in a heated derby. Besiktas will be hosting arch rivals Fenerbahce in battle that will provide bragging rights for either side. The first time these two squads met was towards the end of 2010 when Fenerbahce were looking to hold onto a narrow 1-0 lead until Besiktas star Guti scored off of a penalty kick to tie the game and share the spoils with each team leaving the field with one point.
Besiktas will look to bounce back from an unconvincing 4-1 home defeat in the first leag of their Europa League Round of 32 defeat to Ukranian side FC Dynamo Kiev. Besiktas did not play the best of their football in that game and will look to prove what they can do against Fenerbahce.
Fenerbahce sit just two points behind leaders Trabzonspor and with a win they can jump ahead of Trabzon by one point with Trabzonspor having a game in hand until Monday when they host Vestel Manisaspor.
Fenerbahce last won the Super Lig title back in 2007 with Galatasaray winning in 2008, Besiktas in 2009, and current champions for the first time in their history; Bursaspor in 2010. Besiktas sit in 6th place with 37 points just 8 below Fenerbahce who have 45.
This is one of the most highly anticipated and contested derbies in all of Turkish Soccer. Watching Besiktas versus Fenerbahce may be compared to watching Barcelona versus Real Madrid. The importance of the “El Clasico” in Spain is just as important if not even more in Turkey when the top teams play.
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