Trabzonspor vs Beşiktaş preview, team news, h2h: Super Eagles battle as Nwaiwu face Ndidi

Trabzonspor vs Beşiktaş rounds off matchday eight fixtures of the Turkish Super Lig with two Super Eagles brothers set to face off.

Super Eagles defender Chibuike Nwaiwu is expected to start for Trabzonspor against Beşiktaş on Monday, October 19, 2026, after scoring his first goal of the season in the 3-0 win at Samsunspor.

He should face a fellow Super Eagles international in Wilfred Ndidi, the midfielder tipped to start for Beşiktaş when the sides meet at Papara Park in Trabzon at 18:00 WAT.

Super Eagles striker Paul Onuachu is expected to miss the game after leaving the pitch injured against KuPS, which leaves Nwaiwu as the only Nigerian in Trabzonspor’s likely line-up.

After seven games each, Beşiktaş have 15 points and Trabzonspor 13, so a home win would put Trabzonspor one point ahead of their visitors.

Match radar: Trabzonspor vs Beşiktaş

⚽ Trabzonspor vs Beşiktaş
Competition	Süper Lig 2026/27, matchday eight
Kickoff	Monday, October 19, 2026, 18:00 WAT (20:00 in Turkey)
Venue	Papara Park, Trabzon
Where to Watch	ESPN 2 Africa; beIN SPORTS in Turkey
🇳🇬 Nwaiwu (Trabzonspor) and Ndidi (Beşiktaş) meet as Super Eagles team-mates on opposite sides.

Trabzonspor vs Beşiktaş: Form and context

Trabzonspor have won all three home league games this season, beating Başakşehir 2-1, Gençlerbirliği 5-0 and Galatasaray 4-0 to score 11 goals and concede one.

Across their last five games in all competitions they have won four, scored 16 and conceded three, and the only defeat in that run was a 1-0 loss at Konyaspor.

Beşiktaş have also won four of their last five, scoring 14 and conceding seven, a run that includes a 4-1 home win over Marseille and a 3-2 victory at Hoffenheim in the Europa League.

Their weakness is away from home, where Beşiktaş have won one of three league games, losing 1-0 at Alanyaspor and 3-2 at Amed SK while winning 2-1 at Fenerbahçe.

Both clubs have played in Europe in the past week, with Trabzonspor winning 4-2 at KuPS in the Conference League on Thursday, October 15, so neither side arrives fully rested.

Trabzonspor vs Beşiktaş head-to-head

The sides last met on May 9, 2026, when Trabzonspor won 2-1 at Beşiktaş, with Ernest Muçi scoring the winner in the 62nd minute.

Muçi was on loan from Beşiktaş at the time and now plays for Trabzonspor permanently, so he returns to face his former parent club.

Before that, the meeting in Trabzon on December 14, 2025 finished 3-3, and Beşiktaş have not won any of their last five league visits to the city, drawing four and losing once.

Since November 2021 the 11 meetings between them have produced three wins for each side and five draws, and both teams scored in each of the last five.

Both clubs have changed manager since the May game, so the older results carry limited weight for this fixture.

Trabzonspor vs Beşiktaş team news and predicted XI

Trabzonspor are without suspended midfielder Melih Kabasakal, sent off at Samsunspor on October 10, and Paul Onuachu, who scored in the third minute against KuPS before going off in the 10th.

Reis called the Onuachu injury “very unfortunate” and said he hopes the striker will be back soon.

Stefan Savić and Mustafa Eskihellaç are doubts with physical discomfort, while Nwaiwu and Sidny Lopes Cabral return after missing the KuPS game through a UEFA suspension.

Beşiktaş are without Orkun Kökçü, Václav Černý and Milot Rashica, and Dušan Vlahović, their top league scorer, is a doubt after a stomach illness kept him out of the Hoffenheim game.

Hyeon-gyu Oh, who scored twice against Hoffenheim, is the alternative at centre-forward if Vlahović is not fit.

Trabzonspor	Beşiktaş
Melih Kabasakal: suspended Paul Onuachu: muscle injury Umut Nayir: hamstring Ruslan Malinovskyi: knee Okay Yokuşlu: muscle Stefan Savić: doubt Mustafa Eskihellaç: doubt	Orkun Kökçü: heel injury Václav Černý: thigh injury Milot Rashica: thigh muscle tear, about one month Dušan Vlahović: doubt, stomach illness

Trabzonspor vs Beşiktaş star player comparison: Salah vs Vlahović

Mohamed Salah, who joined Trabzonspor on a free transfer in August, has scored seven league goals, while Vlahović has six in five appearances for a Beşiktaş side that depends on him even more with Kökçü and Černý out.

Mohamed Salah Forward · Trabzonspor	Stat	Dušan Vlahović Striker · Beşiktaş
7	Goals	6
3	Assists	0
7	Appearances	5
8.09	Average rating	7.56

The managers for Trabzonspor vs Beşiktaş: Reis and Italiano

Thomas Reis, a 52-year-old German, took charge of Trabzonspor in mid September, after spells at Samsunspor and Ludogorets.

He has won all three of his games in charge, starting with a 4-0 win over Galatasaray in which Salah scored a hat-trick, then 3-0 at Samsunspor and 4-2 at KuPS.

Vincenzo Italiano, 48, was appointed by Beşiktaş on June 6, 2026 on a contract running to the end of the 2027-28 season, after managing Fiorentina and Bologna.

This is his first season in Turkey, and he has already had to adjust to losing Kökçü and Černý, two of his league starters in the last win over Kocaelispor.

Trabzonspor vs Beşiktaş tactical preview

Trabzonspor are expected to line up in a 4-2-3-1 and Beşiktaş in a 4-1-4-1, which sets Fabinho and Tim Jabol-Folcarelli against Fabio Miretti and Ndidi, with Salih Özcan in front of the visitors’ back four.

The sharpest contest should come on Trabzonspor’s right, where Salah and right-back Wagner Pina face Trossard and left-back Rıdvan Yılmaz.

Nwaiwu, the Super Eagles defender, must handle the physical presence of Vlahović, or of Oh if the Serbian misses out.

Franculino and Salah, meanwhile, run at a Beşiktaş back line that has not kept a clean sheet in any of its three away league games.

At the other end, André Onana has kept three clean sheets this season and saves 84.8 percent of the shots he faces, which makes him the steadiest figure in a defence that has conceded five league goals in seven games.

Super Eagles midfielder Ndidi could be asked to contest the space around Muçi, who links the Trabzonspor attack from the central position behind Franculino.

The balance tilts to Trabzonspor because Beşiktaş must rebuild their creative line without Kökçü and Černý, while Reis can pick from a home side that has scored freely at Papara Park.

The Naija Slip: Trabzonspor vs Beşiktaş tips

Score prediction

🔮 Trabzonspor 2-1 Beşiktaş

Trabzonspor’s home form and Salah’s goals should settle a game in which a depleted Beşiktaş still find one way through. Likely scorers: Salah, Franculino and Trossard.