Top-flight football returned to Turkey from a three-month hiatus with a bang on Friday. Fenerbahce went down a man and a goal before rallying to beat Kayserispor 2-1, with Luiz Gustavo scoring a late winner on a beautiful curler in the 88th minute.
The Turkish Super Lig had been suspended since March 17 due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. The league returned with two matches on Friday, including first-place Trabzonspor defeating Goztepe 3-1.
Fenerbahce vs Kayserispor Highlights
Fenerbahce, languishing in seventh place, lost Ozan Tufan to a VAR-assisted straight red card in the 13th minute, an inauspicious start against the side dead last in the Super Lig. Tufan caught the back of the leg of Brice Dja Djédjé with his cleats.
The man advantage finally paid off when Kayserispor scored the opener just before the hour mark. Ghanaian Bernard Mensah smashed an absolutely perfect 25-yard free kick — and when we say perfect, we actually mean perfect.
I’m not sure you can place a free kick any better than that. Mensa and Dja Djédjé, of the Ivory Coast, celebrated the goal by taking a knee and raising a fist, showing solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement that has swept the globe.
But Fenerbahce battled back in the closing minutes.
An unlucky hand ball in the box gave the home side a lifeline, with Vedat Muriqi converting to equalize in the 87th minute.
Mere seconds later, Luiz Gustavo scored the winner. The Brazilian, who has always had a wonderful left foot dating back to his time spent in the Bundesliga, launched a marvelous curler to give his side all three points in the 88th minute.
The goal was the defensive midfielder’s third with Fenerbahce, which he joined in September from Marseille for $6.6 million. He also celebrated by taking a knee.
The Super Lig will continue with matches Saturday, Sunday and Monday in Turkey, where COVID-19 has killed 4,763 people with nearly 175,000 confirmed cases. Since June 1, the Turkish government has rolled back most of its containment measures despite concerns over a second wave of infections.
