Besiktas finished the Europa League group phase with a smashing win over 10-man Stoke and will progress into the round of 32 as Group E winners. 

Carlos Carvalhal was without the services of Ricardo Quaresma, who sat out with a knee injury, but his side was boosted with the knowledge that only a draw was required to take them through to the next round. Manuel Fernandes and Hugo Almeida both started for the Black Eagles.

Besiktas began the game in inspired form and subjected Stoke keeper Asmir Begovic to target practice for much of the opening half. Almeida and Fernandes both had early chances for Besiktas and were unlucky to see their efforts go wide.

Stoke were reeling and Besiktas continued to pile on the pressure, dominating possession and peppering the Stoke City goal with shots. Stoke finally managed to fashion a decent counterattacking opportunity, but Cameron Jerome’s shot was beaten away by Rustu Recber.

Almeida comes close

Almeida nearly scored a fantastic opener after Holosko had chested down a long pass from out of the defense. The Portuguese striker let the ball bounce then took it cleanly on the half volley, once again bringing the best out of Begovic.

The opener came entirely against the run of play on 28 minutes. On a rare foray into Besiktas’ half of the pitch, Ricardo Fuller found some space and his shot from 25 yards took a huge deflection that completely wrong-footed Recber and ended up in the back of the net.

Fernandes had a late 30-yard effort turned away by Begovic, but Besiktas would go into the half wondering how they had contrived to fall behind. 

All action Manuel Fernandes

Besiktas began the second half slowly but eventually found the goal that had mysteriously eluded them. An outstanding pass from Fernandes set up Almeida, who was hacked down in the box by Matthew Upson just as he was about to shoot. The referee wasted no time in pointing to the spot and showed Upson a deserved red card for denying a clear goal scoring opportunity. Fernandes sent Begovic the wrong way, much to the relief of the frustrated home crowd. 

Fernandes nearly scored a second minutes later with a spectacular effort that Begovic somehow managed to keep out. Carvalhal replaced the tiring Almeida with Edu in the 73rd minute and from the ensuing corner, Besiktas scored the second goal that their performance richly deserved courtesy of a Pektemek header.

Besiktas continued to advance and in the 82nd minute found the killer goal they had been looking for when Edu ripped a shot into the top right-hand corner.

The Istanbul based club will take confidence from having topped a difficult group and will now avoid more difficult opposition when the draw takes place in Nyon on Friday. 

by Nathan Motz