The African stars endured mixed fortunes as the Black and Whites beat Fatih Terim’s men at Vodafone Park 

Oghenekaro Etebo returned from injury, Vincent Aboubakar, and Bernard Mensah featured while Mbaye Diagne was sent off as Besiktas secured a 2-0 victory over Galatasaray in Sunday’s Turkish Super Lig game.

Nigeria international Etebo has been out of action since December when he suffered a thigh muscle strain and last featured in a league game against Fatih Karagumruk.

After overcoming the injury setback, the midfielder was handed his ninth league appearance for the Turk Telekom Stadium outfit since teaming up with the side on loan from Stoke City.

Etebo gave a good account of himself in the encounter but his effort was not enough to help his side, who lost Diagne to a red card, avoid defeat.

Cameroon international Aboubakar played a key role in Besiktas victory along with Ghana international Mensah and Algeria’s Rachid Ghezzal.

The game started with both sides aiming to outwit each other but despite their efforts to find the back of the net, the first-half ended 0-0.

After the restart, Galatasaray suffered a huge blow when they were reduced to 10 men after Diagne was punished for his serious foul play.

Sergen Yalcın’s men capitalized on their numerical advantage when Souza broke the deadlock in the 79th minute after he was set up by Rıdvan Yılmaz.

Moments before the end of the game, Georges-Kevin Nkoudou sealed Besiktas victory after receiving a fine assist from Cyle Larin.

Etebo featured for 80 minutes, while his teammate and Morocco international Younes Belhanda played for 69 minutes.

For Besiktas, Ghezzal was on parade for 67 minutes before he was replaced by Ghana star Mensah while Aboubakar featured for 87 minutes.

With the result, the Black and Whites maintained their lead at the top of the table after gathering 38 points from 18 games.

Galatasaray dropped to the fourth spot following their failure to add to their 34 points at Vodafone Park.

The African stars will hope to help their respective clubs secure victory in their next Super Lig outings on January 20 and 21 when Galatasaray will take on Denizlispor and Besiktas will square off against Fatih Karagumruk.