Fenerbahce booked their place in the Champions League knock-out stages following a comfortable 3-1 win over CSKA.
Turkish side reach knock-out stages
Fenerbahce booked their place in the UEFA Champions League knock-out stages for the first time following a comfortable 3-1 home win over CSKA Moscow.
The Turkish side - who knew that a win would guarantee qualification - had failed to progress beyond the knock-out stages on their four previous outings in Europe's top club competition, but a goal from captain Alex and a brace from Ugor Boral ensured they will be in this year's last 16.
CSKA had taken the lead through an Edu own goal, but Fenerbahce came storming back to record a stylish three points at the Sukru Saracoglu stadium.
Fenerbahce started the brightest with Marco Aurelio dragging narrowly wide from range in the opening minutes.
Threat
However, it was CSKA who took the lead when Edu prodded into his own goal on 30 minutes.
CSKA had offered little as an attacking threat, but David Janczyk and Caner Erkin combined well to open up Fenerbahce and Edu poorly converted the ball past his own goalkeeper Volkan Demirel.
Fenerbahce, though, struck back almost immediately as Alex latched onto a tame defensive header from Sergei Ignashevich before controlling on his chest and firing an unstoppable 30-yard half volley past the helpless Igor Akinfeev.
The Turkish side then dominated and Aurelio should have done better with a header from close range, but Fenerbahce were to have their deserved lead one minute into first-half injury-time when Boral netted.
Architect
Alex was the architect as he threaded a pinpoint ball inside CSKA defender Caner to allow Boral the simple task of slotting home his first goal in over a year.
After the interval, CSKA immediately introduced Pavel Mamaev and Chidi Odiah in place of Caner and Lage Ramon and Fenerbahce were to receive a wake-up call as their visitors forced Volkan to produce a fine save from Janczyk.
Fenerbahce, though, continued to dominate and they could have extended their lead on 65 minutes but Boral was to be denied his second of the night when he volleyed against the crossbar from 15 yards.
However, Boral was to double his personal tally on the stroke of full-time when he stylishly headed home to seal the points.
| Fenerbahce |
Team Statistics |
CSKA Moscow |
| 3 |
Goals |
1 |
| 2 |
1st Half Goals |
1 |
| 11 |
Shots on Target |
3 |
| 7 |
Shots off Target |
3 |
| 5 |
Blocked Shots |
1 |
| 6 |
Corners |
1 |
| 15 |
Fouls |
12 |
| 4 |
Offsides |
4 |
| 1 |
Yellow Cards |
3 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 79.5 |
Passing Success |
77 |
| 28 |
Tackles |
23 |
| 75 |
Tackles Success |
69.6 |
| 53.8 |
Possession |
46.2 |
| 55.3 |
Territorial Advantage |
44.7 |
|
