Historic win for Besiktas

Besiktas MOGAZ HT wrote history Sunday evening, as the Turkish champions got their first points in the club’s history at this level through a 28:26 win at home against Alingsas HK. The win also allow the VELUX EHF Champions League debutants from Istanbul to dream of the progression from their group.

VELUX EHF Champions League Group B

Besiktas MOGAZ HT (TUR) vs Alingsas HK (SWE) 28:26 (13:15)

Besiktas may still dream of the Last 16 after their narrow win against Alingsas who had zero points just like Besiktas before the meeting Sunday evening.

The historic win, which marked Besiktas’ first Champions League points, means that the Turkish champions are only two points adrift of Orlen Wisla Plock in fourth place, the lowest position that gives access to the knock-out stages.

Alingsas had the experienced left back Fredrik Larsson back from his hip injury, and he turned out to be an asset to the Swedish champions, especially in the defence, but at the end not even his experience could prevent the Besiktas win.

During most of the first half, there was not much to indicate that the first win in Besiktas’ history was on its way.

Alingsas were controlling the game and lead by a goal or two most of the time.

Shortly before the break, Alingsas even extended the lead to four, at 15:11, but two fast goals before half-time made gave the home team something to grasp at for the second half.

Besiktas had the far better start after the break and scored the first three goals in the second half, to take a 16:15 lead and from that point the hosts never fell behind again.

Besiktas opened up a four-goal advantage at 26:22 and 28:24 towards the end, before Alingsas were allowed to score the last two goals of the match.

The final whistle was greeted loudly by the players and fans alike in the arena as they celebrated the well-deserved win.