Overview
- Beşiktaş beat FK Kauno Žalgiris 3-0 at home on Thursday, giving the Turkish side a commanding first-leg lead in the Europa League playoff.
- The win extended Alexander Nübel’s streak to six consecutive competitive clean sheets since his summer move, leaving him roughly 540 minutes without conceding.
- Under coach Vincenzo Italiano Beşiktaş have won their first six competitive matches this season, a run that has boosted their chances of qualifying for the Europa League group phase.
- Nübel joined Beşiktaş from FC Bayern this summer for about €6–6.25 million as part of a wider spending spree of roughly €67 million that also brought in Orkun Kökcü, Leandro Trossard and Dušan Vlahović.
- Leandro Trossard was injured and substituted during the Žalgiris match, creating a short-term fitness question for the squad as they prepare for the return leg in Vilnius and a league trip to Alanyaspor.