the sides will head into the second leg all square after an impressive rearguard action by a fenerbahçe team who had raul meireles sent off after four minutes.
fenerbahçe sk will resume this uefa europa league round of 32 tie on home turf next week level with 0-0 after surviving 86 minutes with ten men against fc bate borisov.
raul meireles' dismissal in the opening minutes for a senseless trip on aleksandr hleb changed the complexion of the first leg, but the rusty home team could not break the down – they never really came close.
this was bate's first competitive outing since 5 december, and any fear of being caught cold by a fenerbahçe side firing on all cylinders vanished with meireles up the tunnel. yet viktor goncharenko's side struggled to make their numerical advantage count and with mehmet topal, the spider, weaving passes in midfield and pierre webó leading the line, the visitors kept them pegged back.
bate lacked cohesion, trying to force the issue and use the full width of the pitch in grodno rather than play to their narrow strengths. they were limited to pot shots from distance, even after the tide turned ten minutes before half-time and the belarusian outfit started to take the initiative. they needed to be ever alert at the back, too, andrei gorbunov taking the ball off webó's toes following reto ziegler's lofted ball over the top.
fenerbahçe attacks were consigned to memory in the second period as bate pushed on, with dirk kuyt increasingly used as an auxiliary holding midfielder. chances remained at a premium, however, the most notable coming eight minutes from time when volkan demirel sprang off his line to smother aleksandr volodko's effort at close quarters. fenerbahçe take a 0-0 draw back to ıstanbul for next week's second leg, when artem radkov will be suspended – it must feel like a win.
