Vincent Aboubakar found the net twice in Besiktas’ 2-1 triumph over Gaziantep in Saturday’s Turkish Super Lig encounter.
Buoyed by wins in their last five games in all competitions, the Black Eagles welcomed Ricardo Sa Pinto’s men – who were 2-1 better than Genclerbirligi on their last time out at the Vodafone Park.
Just 15 minutes into the game, the Cameroon international gave them the lead courtesy of an assist from Rachid Ghezzal. The Leicester City loanee teed up Aboubakar who dribbled past goalkeeper Gunay Guvenc before firing the ball into an empty net.
Despite an impressive attacking response from GFK, they were unable to level the scores as the first half ended 1-0 in favour of Sergen Yalcin’s side.
While it looked like the second half would produce no goals, the 29-year-old completed his brace in the 72nd minute. He received a clever pass from Cyle Larin, dribbled past his markers before displacing goalkeeper Guvenc.
Not willing to go down without a fight, Gaziantep pulled a goal back in the 90th minute of the three-goal affair. Dicko beat Ersin Destanoglu from the penalty spot after he was upended by the Turkish goalkeeper.
Even at that late goal, Pinto and his team returned home with heads bowed low following their seventh loss of the 2020-21 campaign.
Aboubakar – who now boasts 15 league goals so far – was in action from start to finish, while Algeria’s Ghezzal was substituted for Ghana’s Bernard Mensah in the 81st minute. Whereas, Congolese defender Fabrice Nsakala was not listed for action.
For Malian attacker Dicko who saw every minute of action alongside Senegal’s Papy Djilobodji, he has now scored twice for the Gaziantep Arena giants since his move from Dutch side Vitesse at the beginning of the season.
Ghana’s Abdul Aziz Tetteh and Cameroonian defender Jean-Armel Kana-Biyik played no role in GFK’s defeat.
Thanks to this result, Besiktas remain at the summit of the log with 60 points from 27 games pending the outcome between Galatasaray with Sivasspor on Sunday night.
Aboubakar would be hoping to equal his best ever goal tally in one season when Besiktas visit Istanbul Basaksehir at the Fatih Terim Stadium on March 12.
