M. Baltaci's red card left Gençlerbirliği with almost nothing

Beşiktaş beat Gençlerbirliği S.K. 3-0 at the Tupras Stadium, but the decisive moment came early, when a visiting player was sent off.

The match turned on a single decision made in the 22nd minute. Gençlerbirliği S.K. had already conceded to Dušan Vlahović when M. Baltaci collected a second yellow card, having been booked earlier in the half. From that moment they played with ten men, and everything that followed has to be read against that fact.

Beşiktaş had 69% of the ball, which is well above their usual 61% at home this season. Gençlerbirliği's 31% sat below their own 43.3% away average, so the imbalance was sharper than either side is used to. Possession alone says little about threat, but Beşiktaş completed 90% of their passes, which suggests the ball was moved with purpose rather than simply held.

The more striking figure is the quality of what Beşiktaş created. Expected goals, a measure that scores each shot by how often shots from that position become goals, came to 2.44. That is well above their usual 1.63 at home, and above the 1.31 that an average side in this league produces. Their shot count was ordinary for them, so the difference lay in where the shots came from, not how many were taken.

Gençlerbirliği's account of the afternoon is much shorter. They managed three shots, against a usual 11.1 away from home and a league average of 12.9, and only one of those was on target. Their expected goals were 0.18, a fraction of the 1.05 they normally produce on the road. The goalkeeper İrfan Can Eğribayat kept the score from being worse, making six saves and earning a rating of 8.2 for it.

The goals came from a narrow group of players. Leandro Trossard was involved in all three, and Dušan Vlahović scored twice, earning a rating of 8.7 that was the highest of any Beşiktaş player on the list. E. Poku scored the last of them late on. Beşiktaş's goal tally was above their home norm of 1.9, while Gençlerbirliği conceded more than their away average of 1.8.

In the table, Beşiktaş sit sixth with 19 points from ten matches, and their home record reads six wins, one draw and three defeats. Gençlerbirliği are 14th on 11 points, and away from home they have won three, drawn two and lost five. Those figures were already known before kick-off, and the sending off simply made the gap on the day look wider than it might otherwise have been.

Gençlerbirliği have now conceded 18 goals in their ten away matches, while scoring 12 in the same games.

Player of the matchDušan Vlahović2 goals8.7

Leandro Trossard2 assists8.6

İrfan Can Eğribayat6 saves8.2

Orkun Kökçü3 chances created7.6