Konyaspor and Başakşehir Locked at 0-0 as Set-Piece Threat Carries the Away Side

Konyaspor and Başakşehir go into the interval level at 0-0 at the Medaş Konya Büyükşehir Stadyumu, and the scoreline is the only thing the two sides share. Konyaspor have taken four shots to Başakşehir's one, put two on target to the visitors' none, and hold 52 percent of the ball. On the raw count, the home side have done more. On expected goals, they trail 0.28 to 0.53.

That gap is the first half in one number. Konyaspor's chances have been low-value: 0.21 xG from open play, 0.07 from set plays, and not a single big chance created across 45 minutes. Başakşehir have generated one big chance and 0.53 xG without scoring, and every bit of it has arrived from dead-ball situations — 0.53 set-play xG against zero from open play. The away side have not built a meaningful attack from open play all half. They have not needed to.

The corner count tells the same story from a different angle: Başakşehir 3, Konyaspor 1. Those deliveries are where the visitors' threat lives. Eldor Shomurodov carries 0.53 xG on his own — the entirety of Başakşehir's expected-goals output — and the striker has been the target and the finisher of the set-piece routine that has come closest to breaking the deadlock. Rayyan Baniya, on the Konyaspor side, has registered 0.07 xG, the home team's only individual expected-goals contribution of note, and it too came from a set play.

Both teams line up in 4-2-3-1, and the mirrored shapes have produced a first half of containment rather than creation. Konyaspor's 179 accurate passes at 79 percent and Başakşehir's 159 at 76 percent show two sides comfortable circulating the ball without puncturing the opposition. The decisive territory numbers are almost identical — 59 passes in the opposition half for Konyaspor, 65 for Başakşehir — and neither defence has been stretched. Konyaspor have managed four touches in the Başakşehir box; the visitors have two in Konyaspor's.

Başakşehir won 22 duels to Konyaspor's 17, and that physical edge is part of why the away side have looked the more likely to score despite seeing less of the ball. Deniz Türüc, Ivan Brnić and Jackson Muleka are the names Konyaspor will look to for a spark after the restart; none has yet turned possession into a clear opening. For Başakşehir, the question is whether they can manufacture anything from open play at all, or whether their entire attacking case rests on winning more corners.

No goals, no cards, nine fouls between them — this has been a controlled, cautious first half. The team with the better chances has not led. The team with more of the ball has not threatened. Forty-five minutes have produced a stalemate that the underlying numbers say is more fragile than it looks.