Tiago Gouveia Double Ends Gençlerbirliği's Long Drought

Gençlerbirliği had gone seven Süper Lig games without a win. On Monday night at Eryaman Stadyumu they scored five, against an Alanyaspor side that had most of the ball and still left Ankara beaten 5–0. Afterwards, the visiting coach described the evening as a nightmare.

The pressure on the hosts had been impossible to miss. Club president Haydar Arda Çakmak and the board gathered the squad for a unity and morale dinner in Ankara just days before the fixture. The players were also without captain Dimitrios Goutas, who has undergone major surgery and faces at least six months out, and the win was dedicated to him.

Tiago Gouveia scored twice, Franco Tongya finished with a goal and two assists, and goalkeeper İrfan Eğribayat was involved in both the first and the last goals. This was not a side edging out of a slump. It was an emphatic exit. For Alanyaspor, it was a third consecutive league defeat.

Oğulcan Ülgün strikes inside a minute to rattle Alanyaspor

The opener came after 47 seconds, and it started with the goalkeeper. Eğribayat sent a long ball down the right to Adama Traoré, who found Tongya. Tongya rolled a pass across the edge of the area, and Oğulcan Ülgün swept a first-time shot that deflected past the keeper.

It was Ülgün's second league goal of the season, in nine appearances. More importantly, it handed a side short on confidence the thing it needed most: a lead to protect rather than a deficit to chase.

What followed was a long stretch of Alanyaspor possession. The visitors finished with 59% of the ball, yet the half closed at 1–0. The pattern held: Alanyaspor circulated, and Gençlerbirliği waited for the moment to run.

Tongya and Traoré tear the game open in nine minutes

That moment came on 59 minutes. Traoré got to the right byline and cut the ball back, and Tongya steered a low finish into the far corner from a tight angle. It was his second league goal of the season, in ten appearances.

Then the visitors came apart. On 66 minutes, with Traoré credited with a second assist, Gouveia placed a right-footed shot into the bottom far corner from outside the box. Two minutes later Tongya turned provider again, chipping a cross from the left byline into the goalmouth for Pedro Mendes to head home from close range.

Three goals in nine minutes. In the coverage afterwards, Alanyaspor coach João Pereira was reported as admitting that his team completely gave up after the second goal. The sequence on the pitch offers little to argue with.

The numbers explain how a side with 41% of possession can win by five. Gençlerbirliği had 12 shots and put seven on target. Alanyaspor managed nine attempts, only three of which tested Eğribayat. One team had the ball; the other knew exactly what to do with it.

İrfan Eğribayat sends Tiago Gouveia clear to complete the rout

The fifth, on 78 minutes, was the evening in miniature. Eğribayat launched a long clearance that went straight to Gouveia on the counter down the left. Gouveia beat his defender and beat the keeper with a low finish to complete the scoring.

A goalkeeper registering a direct assist is a rare sight in the Süper Lig. This one had a special symbolism, with Eğribayat having also launched the move that produced the opener.

Turkish coverage praised Bernd Storck's faith in youth and his side's lethal transition play. It is hard to imagine a cleaner illustration than a goalkeeper's clearance setting up a move that ends in the net. Alanyaspor's frustration, meanwhile, found its way into the referee's notebook: Fatih Tokail showed them three yellow cards to Gençlerbirliği's one.

João Pereira owns his mistake as Alanyaspor's slide deepens

Pereira offered no shelter. "Çok fazla üst üste hatalar yaptık, kabus gibi bir maçtı," the Alanyaspor coach said. In substance, he said his side made too many mistakes in succession and that it was a nightmare of a match. He also admitted that his tactical switch to a back four had been an error.

That candour will not soften the picture. Turkish coverage framed the defeat as a deepening crisis, and the table offers little comfort. Alanyaspor sit 12th on 12 points after three straight league losses, just one point clear of the side that has just put five past them.

For Gençlerbirliği, 14th on 11 points, the result does not transform their position, but it changes the impression they make. A week that began with a unity dinner ends with a first win in eight league outings and a dedication to an injured captain. It also offers evidence that Storck's young side can punish opponents who leave space behind them.

In March, these teams could not find a goal between them in 90 minutes. Now the burden has shifted entirely to Pereira, who must find answers quickly before a slide of three defeats becomes something harder to stop.