{"id":13699,"date":"2011-12-14T19:50:00","date_gmt":"2011-12-14T19:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/12\/besiktas-3-1-stoke-city-matthew-upson-red-card-proves-costly-as-potters-miss-out-on-top-spot-in-europa-league-group-e\/"},"modified":"2011-12-14T19:50:00","modified_gmt":"2011-12-14T19:50:00","slug":"besiktas-3-1-stoke-city-matthew-upson-red-card-proves-costly-as-potters-miss-out-on-top-spot-in-europa-league-group-e","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/14\/besiktas-3-1-stoke-city-matthew-upson-red-card-proves-costly-as-potters-miss-out-on-top-spot-in-europa-league-group-e\/","title":{"rendered":"Besiktas 3-1 Stoke City: Matthew Upson red card proves costly as Potters miss out on top spot in Europa League Group E"},"content":{"rendered":"

An understrength Stoke City<\/a> side lost 3-1 to Besiktas<\/a> on Wednesday but still managed to qualify for the Europa League’s next stage after securing second place in Group E.<\/p>\n

Already assured of progression before the match, Stoke manager Tony Pulis only brought 15 first-team players to the Inonu Stadium, resulting in only three outfield players on the bench next to second-string keeper Carlo Nash.<\/p>\n

The home side immediately beset the English visitors, controlling possession easily throughout much of the opening period as Stoke sat with at least ten men behind the ball.<\/p>\n

The Turkish side, however, often sent the final ball out of play, with a curling long-range effort from Veli Kavlak on ten minutes being the first real exception.<\/p>\n

The Austrian threatened again moments later, driving in a diagonal cross from the left-side which was just nicked over the bar by striker Hugo Almeida.<\/p>\n

Stoke had their first real attack of the game shortly thereafter. Right-winger Diego Arismendi initiated a counter-attack down the right side passing to Ricardo Fuller who released Cameron Jerome one-on-one with Besiktas goalie Recber Rustu only to see the Turk manage to thwart the Englishman’s effort.<\/p>\n

Almeida replied for the hosts after 20 minutes, his half-volley requiring the first of many legitimate saves from Stoke keeper Asmir Begovic.<\/p>\n

Pulis brought off Andy Wilkinson on 28 minutes, slotting Jermaine Pennant in at right-wing, pushing Arismendi to the middle and dropping Rory Delap to right-back in an attempt to adapt the side’s shape.<\/p>\n

A minute later, it paid off. Against the run of play, Fuller<\/strong> took advantage of a loose ball inside the Besiktas half. He was allowed enough space to unleash a shot that took a wicked deflection and nestled inside Rustu’s net, giving Stoke the lead.<\/p>\n

Begovic was called into heroic action again on 37 minutes when Manuel Fernandes fired low from the left-side, but the Bosnian pushed it around the far post.<\/p>\n

The Turkish side continued to pressurise the English club, but couldn’t penetrate the swathe of opposition sitting in front of the goal.<\/p>\n

The first half ended 1-0 to the visitors, who were content with a half-time advantage which was enough to see them through top of their group.<\/p>\n

The home side needed a draw to have the same assurance, and their interim manager, Carlos Carvalhal, introduced<\/span> Mustafa Pektemek for Filip Holosko in a tactical switch to begin the second half.<\/p>\n

The game was turned on its heels on 56 minutes. Fernandes released Almeida through on goal, and Matthew Upson’s last-ditch tackle felled the Portuguese forward inside the box, resulting in both the Englishman’s sending-off and a penalty kick for Besiktas.<\/p>\n

Fernandes<\/strong> slotted the spot-kick to the left, equalizing for the home side and guaranteeing progression into the Europa League’s next stages as the scoreline stood.<\/p>\n

The former Everton midfielder almost put Besiktas ahead moments later, but his volley on 64 minutes was well-saved by the standout Stoke keeper, Begovic.<\/p>\n

The Potters were clearly content to pass the ball around the back, when able, but with just ten men, spells of possession were always short-lived.<\/p>\n

Edu replaced Almeida for the Black Eagles on 74 minutes, and Besiktas scored immediately thereafter.<\/p>\n

Fernandes swung in a corner-kick and half-time substitute, Pektemek<\/strong>, had plenty of space amongst the tired and outnumbered Stoke defence to dive and head in sweetly from eight yards.<\/p>\n

Ten minutes later Besiktas went 3-1 ahead. Substitute Edu<\/strong> fired a low, driven shot from outside the box that left Begovic with no hope of saving.<\/p>\n

The tie was done and dusted from then on. Ten-man Stoke could do little else but fight through the remaining ten minutes without conceding.<\/p>\n

With the 3-1 victory, Besiktas finish the Europa League group stage on top of Group E as their opponents finished second.<\/p>\n

The draw for the Europa League’s next round of fixtures is Saturday, December 16th.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

How do you stay up with football when on the move? With http:\/\/m.goal.com<\/a> \u2013 your best source for mobile coverage of the beautiful game.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An understrength Stoke City side lost 3-1 to Besiktas on Wednesday but still managed to qualify for the Europa League’s next stage after securing second place in Group E. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nBesiktas 3-1 Stoke City: Matthew Upson red card proves costly as Potters miss out on top spot in Europa League Group E - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/14\/besiktas-3-1-stoke-city-matthew-upson-red-card-proves-costly-as-potters-miss-out-on-top-spot-in-europa-league-group-e\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Besiktas 3-1 Stoke City: Matthew Upson red card proves costly as Potters miss out on top spot in Europa League Group E - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"An understrength Stoke City side lost 3-1 to Besiktas on Wednesday but still managed to qualify for the Europa League's next stage after securing second place in Group E.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/14\/besiktas-3-1-stoke-city-matthew-upson-red-card-proves-costly-as-potters-miss-out-on-top-spot-in-europa-league-group-e\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/14\/besiktas-3-1-stoke-city-matthew-upson-red-card-proves-costly-as-potters-miss-out-on-top-spot-in-europa-league-group-e\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Besiktas 3-1 Stoke City: Matthew Upson red card proves costly as Potters miss out on top spot in Europa League Group E\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-12-14T19:50:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/14\/besiktas-3-1-stoke-city-matthew-upson-red-card-proves-costly-as-potters-miss-out-on-top-spot-in-europa-league-group-e\/\"},\"wordCount\":691,\"commentCount\":0,\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/14\/besiktas-3-1-stoke-city-matthew-upson-red-card-proves-costly-as-potters-miss-out-on-top-spot-in-europa-league-group-e\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/14\/besiktas-3-1-stoke-city-matthew-upson-red-card-proves-costly-as-potters-miss-out-on-top-spot-in-europa-league-group-e\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/14\/besiktas-3-1-stoke-city-matthew-upson-red-card-proves-costly-as-potters-miss-out-on-top-spot-in-europa-league-group-e\/\",\"name\":\"Besiktas 3-1 Stoke City: Matthew Upson red card proves costly as Potters miss out on top spot in Europa League Group E - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-12-14T19:50:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/14\/besiktas-3-1-stoke-city-matthew-upson-red-card-proves-costly-as-potters-miss-out-on-top-spot-in-europa-league-group-e\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Besiktas 3-1 Stoke City: Matthew Upson red card proves costly as Potters miss out on top spot in Europa League Group E - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/14\/besiktas-3-1-stoke-city-matthew-upson-red-card-proves-costly-as-potters-miss-out-on-top-spot-in-europa-league-group-e\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Besiktas 3-1 Stoke City: Matthew Upson red card proves costly as Potters miss out on top spot in Europa League Group E - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"An understrength Stoke City side lost 3-1 to Besiktas on Wednesday but still managed to qualify for the Europa League's next stage after securing second place in Group E.","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/14\/besiktas-3-1-stoke-city-matthew-upson-red-card-proves-costly-as-potters-miss-out-on-top-spot-in-europa-league-group-e\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/14\/besiktas-3-1-stoke-city-matthew-upson-red-card-proves-costly-as-potters-miss-out-on-top-spot-in-europa-league-group-e\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Besiktas 3-1 Stoke City: Matthew Upson red card proves costly as Potters miss out on top spot in Europa League Group E","datePublished":"2011-12-14T19:50:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/14\/besiktas-3-1-stoke-city-matthew-upson-red-card-proves-costly-as-potters-miss-out-on-top-spot-in-europa-league-group-e\/"},"wordCount":691,"commentCount":0,"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/14\/besiktas-3-1-stoke-city-matthew-upson-red-card-proves-costly-as-potters-miss-out-on-top-spot-in-europa-league-group-e\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/14\/besiktas-3-1-stoke-city-matthew-upson-red-card-proves-costly-as-potters-miss-out-on-top-spot-in-europa-league-group-e\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/14\/besiktas-3-1-stoke-city-matthew-upson-red-card-proves-costly-as-potters-miss-out-on-top-spot-in-europa-league-group-e\/","name":"Besiktas 3-1 Stoke City: Matthew Upson red card proves costly as Potters miss out on top spot in Europa League Group E - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-12-14T19:50:00+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/14\/besiktas-3-1-stoke-city-matthew-upson-red-card-proves-costly-as-potters-miss-out-on-top-spot-in-europa-league-group-e\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13699\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}