Fenerbahçe falters in league opener ahead of champions league playoff
Just three days before their crucial Champions League playoff first leg against Lyon, Fenerbahçe suffered a 1-2 defeat at the hands of Gençlerbirligi in their opening match of the Turkish Championship season.
This outcome will undoubtedly bring some reassurance to Olympique Lyonnais supporters, as their team, led by Paulo Fonseca, prepares for the first leg of the Champions League playoff in Istanbul this Tuesday at 9 PM. Despite a significantly altered starting lineup, featuring six changes from their previous match against Sturm Graz, the Turkish side succumbed to Gençlerbirligi with a 1-2 scoreline on Saturday evening, marking their first Süper Lig fixture of the season.
Fenerbahçe’s manager, Ismail Kartal, opted to rest several key players for the away game in Ankara. Notable absentees from the initial eleven included N’Golo Kanté, Mason Greenwood, Nélson Semedo, and Kerem Aktürkoglu, all of whom were introduced only for the final thirty minutes of the encounter. English left-back Archie Brown was also notably left out of the squad to recuperate.
Despite dominating proceedings with 71% possession and a significant 27 shots compared to their opponents’ 10, the future adversaries of OL initially took the lead through Brazilian midfielder Anderson Talisca in the 13th minute (1-0). However, Gençlerbirligi staged a comeback, with Franco Tongya equalizing in the 37th minute (1-1) and Ogulcan Ülgün securing the winning goal in the 56th minute (2-1). Fenerbahçe’s third-choice goalkeeper, Tarik Cetin, who was filling in for the injured Mert Günok and suspended Ederson, was unable to prevent two of the three shots on target from finding the back of the net.
