Besiktas vs Trabzonspor preview, team news and H2H: Ndidi eyes victory in open tie

Besiktas host Trabzonspor at Tüpraş Stadyumu on Saturday, May 9, in one of the most consequential fixtures of the Turkish Super Lig season, Afrik Foot reports.

The Black Sea Storm arrive in the capital carrying the weight of a damaging run of form, but also the presence of Paul Onuachu, the Super Eagles striker and Super Lig’s leading scorer, who is desperate to end a personal goal drought and drag his side over the line in the European race.

Two of Nigeria’s most prominent players are on opposing sides in a fixture that the Super Eagles community will be watching closely.

Match Preview: Besiktas vs Trabzonspor

Trabzonspor entered the season with serious title ambitions and, for much of the campaign, those ambitions appeared justified.

At one stage, Fatih Tekke’s side sat second in the table, just two points behind leaders Galatasaray, with Onuachu, tearing through defences at a rate that placed him second only to Harry Kane in terms of goals scored across Europe’s top ten leagues in the 2026 calendar year.

The trajectory has since plateaued in the most frustrating of ways. Trabzonspor have not won a game in their previous five attempts; a run of draws that has allowed Galatasaray and Fenerbahce to pull away and left the Black Sea Storm watching a title challenge drain away while still fighting to confirm their place in Europe for next season.

Besiktas’ own season has been more layered. Sergen Yalcin’s side have been unbeaten in 17 of their last 20 Super Lig fixtures, a record that reflects a team capable of competing with any side in Turkey on their day, and their fourth-place position carries European reward with it, a Conference League spot that the club’s management regard as the minimum acceptable outcome from this campaign.

Ndidi has been the defensive foundation upon which Yalcin’s system has been built.

His reading of the game, intensity in the tackle and ability to screen the backline have made him one of the most important players at the club since his arrival from Leicester City last August.

Besiktas vs Trabzonspor: Head-to-Head Record

This is a fixture with a long and volatile history, and the numbers show genuine balance between two clubs that have contested one of Turkish football’s most captivating rivalries.

Across 49 meetings between the clubs, Besiktas hold the advantage with 19 wins to Trabzonspor’s 14, and 16 draws.

Both teams to score has occurred in 70% of all recent meetings, and previous encounters have averaged more than three goals across the last several seasons.

The reverse fixture this season, played at Papara Park on December 14, 2025, ended in a breathless 3-3 draw that encapsulated everything this fixture tends to produce.

Recent head-to-head results across the last five meetings lean Trabzonspor’s way on their home turf, but Besiktas have won 10 of the 23 most recent encounters between the clubs, and Saturday’s fixture at Tüpraş gives the home side a structural advantage that Trabzonspor will need their best travelling performance to overcome.

Trabzonspor maçı hazırlıklarına başladık. 🦅 pic.twitter.com/KtcCfQSNl0

— Beşiktaş JK (@Besiktas) May 7, 2026

Team News

Besiktas

Sergen Yalcin has a largely fit squad to choose from as the season reaches its conclusion, though several long-term absentees from earlier in the campaign remain unavailable.

Ndidi is expected to anchor the double pivot, providing the defensive screen that allows Orkun Kokcu to push forward and influence play in more advanced areas.

Václav Cerny and El Bilal Toure provide the pace and directness on either side of the attacking midfielder, with Milot Rashica an option from the bench if Yalcin requires additional width in the second half.

Predicted Besiktas XI (4-2-3-1): Destanoglu; Murillo, Agbadou, Topcu, Yilmaz; Ndidi, Kokcu; Cerny, Aslanni, Toure; Oh.

Beşiktaş maçı hazırlıklarımız sürüyor

🔗 https://t.co/ypUPp7MQJy pic.twitter.com/JqOzuWd6N1

— Trabzonspor (@Trabzonspor) May 7, 2026

Trabzonspor

Fatih Tekke’s most pressing concern ahead of Saturday is the form and fitness of Onuachu, the Super Eagles striker and Super Lig’s outright leading scorer on 22 goals for the season.

The Nigerian has gone three consecutive league games without finding the net, a drought that coincides with a minor injury setback from which he has largely recovered, and Trabzonspor’s collective form during his blank period is a direct reflection of how dependent they are on his output.

When Onuachu scores, Trabzonspor win or draw with a lead to defend.

When he does not, the alternatives have struggled to provide the same combination of aerial dominance, intelligent movement and clinical finishing that makes the Nigerian so difficult to contain at this level.

Predicted Trabzonspor XI (3-4-2-1): Onana; Nwaiwu, Malkocoglu, Tufan; Pina, Bouchouari, Jabol-Folcarelli, Eskihellac; Augusto, Muci; Onuachu.

The Managers

Sergen Yalcin is in familiar territory at Besiktas, having previously managed the club between 2020 and 2021, during which he won a Super Lig title in the 2020-21 campaign.

His tactical approach is direct and pragmatic, built on Ndidi’s defensive solidity, Kokcu’s creativity and Oh’s threat in behind, and Saturday’s fixture demands exactly those qualities against a Trabzonspor side that will be set up to dominate the ball and supply the channels.

Fatih Tekke will be looking to extract a winning performance from a team that has not won in five games, in a hostile away fixture.

Tactical Preview

Yalcin sets Besiktas up to be compact, hard to break down and dangerous in transition.

The threat for Besiktas is that Trabzonspor will look to bypass the press by delivering quickly into Onuachu, who at 201 cm can control, hold and lay the ball off to runners arriving from midfield before Ndidi or Kokcu can close the space.

Zubkov’s delivery from the right flank has been Trabzonspor’s primary creative mechanism all season, and his ability to whip crosses into the box is specifically designed to serve Onuachu’s aerial dominance and the late runs of Muci from deep.