 CELEBRATION: Semih Şentürk (C) lifts the Spor Toto Super League trophy as Alex (L) looks on. AA photo |
Here comes that old song, "We are the Champions" again. The ultimate victory anthem in sport was being used in television spots to mark Fenerbahçe's Turkish league title over the weekend, as it regularly is, but in this case, the Queen song fits in slightly better than most examples; the bit "It's never been a bed of roses" is an especially good description of the Yellow Canaries' remarkable rally to overtake Trabzonspor in the second half of the season.
Fenerbahçe’s road to its 18th Super League title clearly was not a bed of roses. Be it the early elimination from the Champions League against an unheralded Young Boys side, or the subsequent knockout from the Europa League against PAOK Salonika, it was close to being the worst of starts.
Domestic competition offered nothing better either. There came a string of defeats that saw the team slide nine points behind leader Trabzonspor and the team hit the bottom when it was ousted from the Ziraat Turkish Cup by Yeni Malatyaspor, a hapless third-tier team.
