Gazitepe and Alanyaspor played out a 1:1 draw in the opening round of the Turkish Super Lig at Gazietep Stadium on Friday evening. Ruan Pereira Duarte opened the scoring in the 20th minute before Deian Sorescu restored parity for the visitors an hour in. Both sides enter the second round level on four points from three matches.
And here's the thing about the opening exchange — Ruan's goal came early enough to set the tone. Gazitepe controlled the ball at 61 per cent possession and generated 94 attacks compared to 76 for Alanyaspor. They took 11 shots with five on target, while the visitors managed nine attempts with just two on target.
Sorescu's equaliser in the 61st minute shifted the momentum. By then Alanyaspor had already seen Fidan Aliti booked in the 58th minute, and Gazitepe responded with three substitutions around the 70th minute — Hwang Ui-Jo, Trivante Stewart, and Juninho Bacuna all came off together. The hosts brought on Ulrich Meleke, Gaius Makouta, and Arda Usluoğlu in the 78th minute.
The statistics tell a familiar story. Gazitepe completed 464 passes against 262 for Alanyaspor, but expected goals were nearly level at 1.28 to 1.25. Both sides created two big chances apiece, and neither manager felt compelled to push for a winner despite the opening-round significance.
Yellow cards came thick and fast in the closing stages. Serdar Dursun and Enes Keskin both received bookings in the 84th and 88th minutes, while Gidado Victor Ntino-Emo was cautioned on 90+2. Maestro replaced Ruan Pereira Duarte in the 88th minute, and Deian Sorescu came off in the 86th.
Both teams sit in the bottom half of the table after three games — Gazitepe 11th, Alanyaspor 12th, four points each with one win, one draw, and one loss. The draw keeps both sides within touching distance of the top half, though neither has quite found their rhythm yet.