|
Fenerbahce put themselves in control of Group H with a routine 3-1 victory over struggling Steaua Bucharest.
The teams were level at half-time after Andre Santos and Pantelis Kapetanos traded goals, but Bilica and Alex scored for the Turkish side in the second side to give them a deserved win.
Fener were on top from the start, with Mehmet Topuz the first to try his luck after five minutes.
At the other end, Kapetanos fired over from the edge of the box, but on the whole Fener were in control and they took the lead soon after as Santos finished from inside the box.
Cristian Baroni then missed from distance before Robinson Zapata kept Steaua in the game with a double save.
First he parried a 20-yard shot from Topuz before pouncing on the follow-up from Emre to keep the score at 1-0.
Steaua mustered some attacking possession but struggled to get anything on target.
Ionut Rada fired wide from distance, then Banel Nicolita headed over the bar.
Finally, though, Kapetanos headed home Nicolita's cross to level eight minutes before the break. Fener came out after the break keen to reassert their authority, with Cristian and Santos both firing off target, and they were soon in the lead again.
When Sorin Ghionea fouled Colin Kazim-Richards, Alex took the free-kick from the left wing and Bilica headed the ball home.
Janos Szekely could not keep his effort down as Steaua tried to respond but Fener looked the team more likely to score with Kazim-Richards and Cristian both shooting off target.
And they got a deserved third after 68 minutes when Alex drilled a shot from the edge of the area past Zapata.
The Brazilian could have had a second after 72 minutes but his left-foot lob went over the bar. Fener were content to defend their lead after that and succeeded in restricting Steaua largely to long-range efforts.
Nicolita, Ghionea and Dayro Moreno all tried their luck late on but, in truth, Steaua were well beaten by then. |
70'
15'
