Caught the Wrong Way at Kadıköy: Vlahović's First Derby Goal Won Beşiktaş Three Points

The scoreboard at Kadıköy read 1-2 at the end of ninety minutes, and the story beneath that figure matched none of the scripts written in pre-season: Fenerbahçe, at home and having emptied the vault in the summer market, went 1-0 up and still lost on their own ground. The 2-1 Beşiktaş carried out of Kadıköy shifted the weight of the season's first big derby entirely onto their side.

As this column argued before the match, what was really at stake here was not three points but the conviction each side would carry into the season; at the end of ninety minutes it was Beşiktaş who won that bet. On the losing side, this was a night that will see every summer signing and every confident sentence questioned again.

The first half: Škriniar's goal, Kahveci's cancelled celebration

Fenerbahçe started on the front foot and went ahead on 26 minutes when Milan Škriniar got a touch to a ball ricocheting around the penalty area from a throw-in on the right. A goal scrambled by a defender in a crowded area, it was the kind that settles Kadıköy; but the calm did not last.

Beşiktaş drew level on 38 minutes through Rıdvan Yılmaz, put through by Leandro Trossard. Three minutes later came the real tension: İrfan Can Kahveci thought he had put Fenerbahçe back in front on 41 minutes, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside. That decision was the quiet moment that shaped the half — Fenerbahçe went to the dressing room level at 1-1 rather than 2-1 ahead.

Rising tension after the break: Škriniar and Vlahović

The second half ran with an edge that showed both sides were loading this fixture with more than an ordinary league match. Milan Škriniar and Dušan Vlahović squaring up after one passage earned a booking from the referee; after Škriniar, Ederson was cautioned in a similar flashpoint. That spell showed that the real contest on the pitch was running on nerves as much as on the scoreline.

The 73rd minute: Vlahović's first derby signature

The decisive moment came on 73 minutes. Picked out by Orkun Kökçü, Dušan Vlahović finished coolly to make it 2-1. That was not merely a winning goal; it was the first goal of the Serbian's first derby since joining Beşiktaş in the summer, which multiplied the symbolic weight of the transfer. This is exactly what is asked of a major signing: to be there in the big match, at the big moment.

Beşiktaş's win came at a cost. Rıdvan Yılmaz, the man who brought them level, was injured in the second half and replaced by Ouattara. Scoring a critical goal for your team and then leaving the pitch injured was one of the evening's bittersweet notes.

Italiano passes his first derby examination

There is a coaching dimension to this win too. Vincenzo Italiano came through his first derby in charge of Beşiktaş in the hardest way imaginable — away from home, from behind. A manager's credit with supporters usually grows on exactly these evenings; passing his first derby test like this turned the faith placed in the squad built over the summer into an argument with evidence behind it.

Standouts

Dušan Vlahović was the most-discussed name of the evening for the winning goal on his derby debut. Orkun Kökçü repaid his attacking role with the assist. Rıdvan Yılmaz's equaliser goes into the record as one of his side's most valuable contributions, injury notwithstanding. Milan Škriniar stood out for his goal but clouded his evening with the second-half flashpoint and the booking that followed.

The FutbolRadar read

The question asked in this column before the match was clear: who would show the return on the summer's investment on the pitch? On the Beşiktaş side the answer was plain. Dušan Vlahović's journey at Beşiktaş since joining in the summer window crossed a new threshold with this derby goal; together with Trossard's assist and Orkun Kökçü's pass, the most concrete return on the summer window was visible tonight. On the Fenerbahçe side the picture is more complicated: a team that went ahead through Škriniar, had another chance to lead through Kahveci's disallowed goal, and still came away empty-handed.

The result leaves the two clubs in different places at the end of matchweek four: Beşiktaş move to 9 points while Fenerbahçe stay on 6 — the current table can be followed on the Süper Lig standings page. The numbers do not pass judgement on a season yet, but the real message from this derby lies beyond them: the squad Beşiktaş built in the summer showed character in its biggest test, while the derby Fenerbahçe lost at home will put every question back on the agenda over the coming weeks. The goals and key moments can be reviewed on the Live Scores page; our pre-derby assessment stands here.