Player Ratings: Benfica 1-1 Besiktas – Talisca shines

By
Emre Sarigul
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Tolga Zengin – 7

Could have done better in dealing with the initial shot that resulted in the opening goal. Tolga was slow coming off his line as usual but he deserves credit for rescuing his team late on with a brilliant save following a defensive blunder from Quaresma.

Marcelo – 6.5

Failed to deal with a simple aerial ball that resulted in the opening goal but rarely made a mistake afterwards.

Dusko Tosic – 7.5

Tosic is not actually a centre-back so we can give his positioning in the opening goal the benefit of the doubt. The Serbian international rarely put a foot wrong afterwards and won 13 of his 15 contested aerial duals.

Andres Beck – 7

No nonsense display from the Germany international. Defended well and made life difficult for Benfica down his flank.

Adriano – 7

Decent performance from the former Barcelona man. Rarely put a foot wrong and defended admirably in the first half.

Gokhan Inler – 7.5

Put his years of experience to great use in shielding the defence and being an all round nuisance to his opposition with important tackles, interceptions and passes.

Atiba Hutchinson – 8

Another impressive display from the Canadian international. His defensive stats put most defenders to shame. Atiba made six tackles, three interceptions and his passing was impeccable as ever with a 93 percent accuracy.

Quaresma – 7

The Euro 2016 champion looked like the only player capable of unlocking the Benfica defence in the first half but he almost cost Besiktas the game with a ridiculous incident late on. Quaresma decided to dribble the ball from the half-way line to his own penalty area before losing the ball and forcing Tolga Zengin into making a vital save. We also docked a point for his ridiculous new hairstyle!

Oguzhan Ozyakup – 5

The most disappointing performance on the night. So much was expected yet so little was delivered. Ozyakup went AWOL and failed to exert any influence at all on the game. Head coach Senol Gunes had seen enough by half time and swapped him with Talisca.

Anderson Talisca – 9.5

Brilliant Champions League debut for Besiktas. Talisca worked his socks off chasing down every ball, challenging for every aerial dual and totally transformed the game following his introduction at half-time. The Brazilian star should have won a penalty 10 minutes into the first half but saved the best until last with a wonderful free-kick goal in the fourth minute of additional time to establish himself as an instant Besiktas hero.

Caner Erkin – 7.5

Caner showed Besiktas fans exactly what they were missing last season. The on-loan Inter full-back played on the wing and as a full-back at times over the 90 minutes. The fiery Turkish international demonstrated exactly why he is nicknamed the rocket ‘fişek’ with his forward runs. Caner’s bombardment of the Benfica penalty area with dangerous crosses late on created a number of goal scoring chances almost resulting in an equaliser.

Vincent Aboubakar – 7

Aboubakar was starved of quality delivery in the first half as Besiktas struggled for synergy in the final third. The powerful striker did however, work hard and did get into a few dangerous positions in the second half after Talisca entered the fray.

Cenk Tosun – 6

The late substitution was presented with a golden opportunity to score when the ball landed for him just outside the six yard box but he decided to blast the ball into kingdom come instead of the back of the net.

See More
Besiktas – 2016-17 Season Preview & Prediction
Are we witnessing the start of a golden era at Besiktas?
Match Analysis: Benfica 1-1 Besiktas – Talisca turns the lights out at the Estadio da Luz

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