The German striker Mario Gomez
Turkish powerhouse Beşiktaş cruised past Eskişehirspor 3-1 at Başakşehir Stadium on Monday night, maintaining their title race with leaders Fenerbahçe.
The German striker Mario Gomez, who scored two goals against Eskişehirspor, equaled the record set by former foreign strikers Demba Ba and Pascal Nouma of scoring 18 goals in a season. However, Gomez has a good chance of setting the record as Beşiktaş still have 11 matches to play in the Spor Toto Super league. If he scores just one goal more he will be the top scoring foreign footballer in Beşiktaş’s history. Gomez has also succeeded in score two goals in four matches this season, repeating former Galatasaray striker Burak Yılmaz’s success. Gomez also has the advantage in the season’s top scorer race over Antalyaspor’s striker Samuel Eto’o. Gomez has scored 18 goals in 23 matches and is followed by Eto’o who has scored 14 goals as of the 24th week.
Beşiktaş will play a match that was initially postponed because of poor weather conditions. In the last 13 seasons, a Beşiktaş player has not been crowned the top scorer in the Super League. In the 2001-2002 campaign, İlhan Mansız scored 21 goals in 30 appearances for the Black Eagles. With 11 matches to go Gomez needs three more goals to equal İlhan’s performance. To match Feyyaz Uçar’s record, Gomez will need more 10 goals however, as the Turkish-born striker scored 28 league goals in 34 appearances in the 1989-1990 season. (Dailysabah)