Basaksehir slip up in title race

The league leaders drew with Rizespor on Sunday, allowing Galatasaray to narrow the gap to 3 points.

Title hopefuls Istanbul Basaksehir slipped up in the race for the Super Lig title on Sunday after they drew 1-1 against Caykur Rizespor at home.

Despite controlling most of the game with their ball possession (65%), Basaksehir went down 1-0 in the 62 minute after in-form striker Vedat Muriqi gave the visitors the lead when he found himself completely unmarked in the final third of the pitch.

With the game seconds away from coming to an end, referee Huseying Gocek awarded the home-side a penalty kick after one of the Rizespor players was deemed to have committed a foul by tugging on the shirt of Basaksehir defender Mahmut Tekdemir.

Edin Visca stepped up to take the penalty kick and coolly put it past Rizespor goalkeeper Gokhan Akkan in injury time to make it 1-1.

Even though the result leaves Basaksehir at the top of the table with 62 points, the title race still remains completely open and it seems like it will go down to the wire.

Second-placed Galatasaray managed to comfortably defeat Kayserispor 3-1 the day before on Saturday, narrowing the gap between the two clubs to just three points.

Basaksehir will have their, arguably, most difficult game of the season when they visit Galatasaray in the 33rd week of the Turkish Super Lig.

The clash between the two sides in May is likely to determine the champions of the 2018-2019 season of the Turkish Super Lig.