ANKARA, Turkiye (Interstat) — Besiktas opened its Süper Lig campaign with a commanding 2-0 victory over Gençlerbirliği SK on Sunday, capitalizing on an early red card shown to the home side’s Sékou Koïta to control the match from start to finish.

The game, played at Eryaman Stadyumu, turned decisively in the 18th minute when Gençlerbirliği forward Koïta was sent off, forcing his team to play with 10 men for the remainder of the contest. Besiktas, heavily favored before kickoff, seized the numerical advantage and dictated the tempo, though it took until just before the hour mark to break the deadlock.

The breakthrough finally came in the 56th minute. Defender Pedro Pereira, who would later receive a yellow card, provided the service from the right flank, finding substitute Junior Olaïtan in the box. Olaïtan made no mistake with his finish, slotting the ball home to give the visitors a deserved lead.

Besiktas doubled its advantage just 11 minutes later. Another substitute, Emmanuel Agbadou, was the provider this time, delivering an assist in the 67th minute for fellow replacement Orkun Kökçü. Kökçü’s strike effectively put the game out of reach, cementing Besiktas’s control. Both Agbadou and Pereira were booked in the buildup to the goals, in the 33rd and 66th minutes respectively.

The statistical dominance of Besiktas was overwhelming, as reflected in the final shot count. The visitors finished with a staggering 89 total attempts, while a beleaguered Gençlerbirliği side managed none, unable to muster a single shot over the 90 minutes while playing a man down.

The result aligns with pre-match projections, though the margin differed. Interstat’s game simulator had predicted a 2-1 Besiktas win, while its ELO rating system gave Besiktas a 92.2% probability of victory. The final scoreline, absent a Gençlerbirliği goal, underscored the one-sided nature of the match under the circumstances.

With the win, Besiktas begins its Süper Lig season with a record of 1-0. Gençlerbirliği SK starts 0-1. The records are identical across all competitions for both clubs. The performance from Besiktas’s substitutes proved decisive, with Olaïtan and Kökçü scoring the goals and Agbadou adding an assist off the bench, ensuring a straightforward start to the league campaign for the Istanbul-based club.