Demba Ba has accused Besiktas supporters of failing to back the side during their 5-2 aggregate defeat at the hands of Club Brugge on Thursday night.
Protecting a 2-2 draw heading into the final 30 minutes of the tie, which would have been enough to see them through to the quarter-final stage of the Europa League, the Turkish side let slip as their opponents struck three times to turn the game around.
Former Chelsea striker Ba believes that the criticism aimed in the direction of goalkeeper Tolga Zengin played a part in their late collapse at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium.
"We believed in ourselves before the game and outplayed Brugge in first half," he is quoted as saying by Goal.com. "In the second half we scored but, by the end of the game, it was over for us.
"I'm proud of my teammates because we put in a good performance tonight. The fans should have supported us better when the tie was level at 1-1 - if they had done, maybe we would be in the last eight right now."
Besiktas currently top the Turkish Super Lig table, sitting one point clear of Fenerbahce and two ahead of Galatasaray.
Daniel Lewis
