Ryan Babel

Beşiktaş coach Şenol Güneş, who earned himself a special place in Beşiktaş's record book by becoming the only Turkish coach to clinch the domestic title with the Black Eagles in back-to-back seasons on May 28, has set higher goals for the Black Eagles. 

Defending champion Beşiktaş took another step to retaining its Turkish Super League title, moving five points clear at the top of the league with an April 2 win over Ankara's Gençlerbirliği at home.

The visiting side from Ankara started the game by pressing Beşiktaş's defenders and midfielders high up the pitch.

Olympiakos was let down by its defense and its keeper and endured a bad exit from the Europa League suffering a 4-1 defeat at Besiktas on Thursday to get eliminated with a 5-2 aggregate score.

Beşiktaş will take on Lyon of France in the Europa League quarterfinals after knocking out Greek team Olympiacos on March 16.

The draw on March 17 pitted the defending Turkish league champion against the French league runner-up, with the first leg scheduled to be played on April 13 in Lyon. 

Istanbul's Beşiktaş, the sole Turkish team left in European competition, beat Greece's Olympiacos 4-1 late on March 16 to qualify for the quarterfinals of the UEFA Europa League. 

Istanbul's Besiktas, the sole Turkish team in the European tournaments, beat Greece's Olympiacos 4-1 to make it to the quarter finals in the UEFA Europa League. 

A well-motivated Turkish Spor Toto Super League leader Beşiktaş will take on archrival Fenerbahçe on Feb. 5 in a Ziraat Turkey Cup last 16 stage "do or die" game. 

Beşiktaş, which climbed to the top of the standings on matchday 18, put five goals past a strong Konyaspor on Jan. 30 to maintain a two-point cushion over Medipol Başakşehir.

Defending champion Beşiktaş returned to the top of the standings in the Spor Toto Super League after beating Aytemiz Alanyaspor, a newcomer to the top tier, 4-1 in the closing game of the 18th week late on Jan 23. 

The second half of the Spor Toto Super League season starts with surprise package Başakşehir atop the standings, but the Istanbul club's coach is refusing to discuss his side's title chances.

Unbeaten Başakşehir leads the league with 10 victories from 16 games, one point ahead of Beşiktaş on 35 points.

Turkey's defending champion Beşiktaş has signed Dutch forward Ryan Babel on a two-and-a-half-year contract, it announced on Jan. 2. 

The 30-year-old had been a free agent after coming to the end of a short-term contract with Deportivo La Coruna on New Year's Eve, and returns to Turkey having previously spent two years with Istanbul's Kasımpaşa between 2013 and 2015.