Beşiktaş, Fenerbahçe draw in Istanbul derby

Beşiktaş was held to a 1-1 draw at home by city rival Fenerbahçe with a late equalizer on March 21 but managed to stay atop the Turkish Süper Lig standings.

The home side took the lead in the 48th minute when Croatian defender Domagoj Vida scored with a header.

In the 61st minute, Beşiktaş's Cameroonian forward Vincent Aboubakar wasted a critical one-on-one chance as the visiting side's Turkish goalkeeper Altay Bayındır made one of the handful of critical saves of the night.
Fenerbahçe midfielder Ozan Tufan fired outside the area in the 89th minute to score the equalizer.

After the draw, Beşiktaş still sits atop the Süper Lig standings with 64 points with one game in hand.

Galatasaray, which suffered a shock 4-3 home defeat against Rizespor on March 20, is in the second spot, while third-placed Fenerbahçe has 59 points in 30 matches.

Beşiktaş coach Sergen Yalçın was content with the result, but harshly criticized the game's referee, Halil Umut Meler.

"The score is not good or bad for us," Yalçın said.

"We are in the lead. We have opened the gap with one more point. The final part of the league will be played; it is not easy. I congratulate my players for their struggle," he added.

Yalçın said Meler "did everything to get Fenerbahçe back in the game."

"We are not happy with the referee, I hope we do not see him in Beşiktaş games again," Yalçın said.

"We do not want to play with referees who give such interesting decisions," he added.

This season, Fenerbahçe has not been able to win in derby games against its city rivals Beşiktaş and Galatasaray.

In the first half of the league, Fenerbahçe lost 4-3 to Beşiktaş.

Fenerbahce had a goalless drew with Galatasaray in the...