CountryRoyalVictor Meldrew winchester wrote about Besiktas:-
"They probably shaded it but no shame in that up against genuine CL quality".
Did Besiktas put out their first team?
No and some notable absentees. That being said they still had a lot of quality starters and on paper their team was easily good enough to walk the championship.
Hmm it wasn't far off from their first team.
The following players started last night that also started their final league game of last season:
Adriano
Medel
Oguzhan
Tolgay
Babel
Lens
Larin
Of the remainder:
Dorukhan - Turkish U21 international signed this summer by Besiktas
Utku - Turkish youth international
Fatih - Turkish youth international
Gonul - Turkish international played regularly for them over the past 2 seasons
So 7 out of the 11 were the first team and the remainder current Turkish (senior or youth) internationals.
Hardly a 'weakened team'..