Comfortable Beşiktaş visits tough Gaziantep

Beşiktaş successfully completed the first part of its two-game series over the Gaziantep sides, but the second part this weekend will apparently be tougher.

Beating Minnow Bank Asya league one side Gaziantep Municipality 3-1 in what was the first game of the year on Tuesday, Beşiktaş qualified for the quarterfinals of the Fortis Turkish Cup.

Nine points in three games were enough to give Beşiktaş a ticket into the last eight, while second-place Gaziantepspor also qualified for the next round without playing a game during the week, while Trabzonspor was held in a 3-3 draw by the hands of Antalyaspor.

Now, Saturday’s game at Gaziantep Kamil Ocak Stadium will be nothing less than a battle for the top spot of Group A.

Due to the current status of the Fortis Turkish Cup, however, winning the group does not give any favors to the team and all quarter-finalists are equally seeded.

Eagles’ work done
That is why Beşiktaş feels the work has already been done and will go on a week-long training camp in Antalya after the Gaziantepspor game.

"We will play friendly games and train," said Mustafa Denizli after Tuesday’s win. "From now on, everything we do will be for success in the Fortis Turkish Cup and the Turkcell Super League."

Denizli said the Gaziantepspor game will not be a tense one.

"After winning the Municipality game, we will play more comfortably against Gazianetpspor," he said. "At the beginning, this group was touted as the hardest of the four groups in the cup, but we won all of our three games, which is highly satisfying. From now on, the Gaziantepspor game will be the game to make us ready for the league."

Contrary to Beşiktaş’s current comfortable position, the home team is eyeing off a win against the Black Eagles. Gaziantepspor coach, Nurullah Sağlam, said the cup would be his side’s top priority and a win against Beşiktaş would be important to prove that.

"We want to win that game," Sağlam simply said, and added his side wanted to reach the later stages of the cup very badly, unprecedented in the Red-Black’s long history.

"We have not achieved much in the cup up until this year, but six points in two games has changed our perspective of the competition," the coach said. "We are taking the cup very seriously. We will reach the highest point we can."

Gaziantepspor is a mid-table team this year, being eighth in the Turkcell Super League: far from title challenge and comfortably away from the burning relegation battle.

"We have collected a good amount of points in the league and with a new mentality, we will become a more consistent team," he said. "With that mentality, we can concentrate on the cup more now."

"For teams like us, it is not easy to concentrate on two competitions," added Sağlam. "So now we will concentrate more on one of them."

Meanwhile, Beşiktaş added another attacking midfielder to its squad, purchasing Yusuf Şimşek from Bursaspor. The 33-year-old player was linked with Trabzonspor recently, but Beşiktaş won the race early Friday. Turkish international Şimşek will join the club next week.

Highlight of Saturday
Also on Saturday, Gaziantep Municipality will welcome Antalyaspor in the other Group A game. With nothing at stake for both teams, this clash is likely to be more of a friendly test.

The highlight of the midday session of the day will be the Ankaraspor-Kayserispor match. Both teams are among the best in the country and will play for second spot behind in the Group B. Two teams have four points each, three behind Galatasaray.