01.04.2025 17:00
Fenerbahçe Vice President Acun Ilıcalı responded to the statements made by Galatasaray Sportif A.Ş. Vice President İbrahim Hatipoğlu regarding referees. Ilıcalı said, "It's a scandalous statement. The moment you say 'we have an advantage with local referees at home,' you are proving that you are putting pressure on the referees and turning it into an advantage. Let them come out and say something else, and then I will laugh from now on."
Fenerbahçe Vice President Acun Ilıcalı made statements before the Ziraat Cup quarter-final match against Galatasaray, which will be played on Wednesday, April 2.
"A VERY IMPORTANT MATCH"
Speaking about the match, Ilıcalı said, "Honestly, it is a very important match, of course. There are few words to be said for derbies. Because these matches are in everyone's memory. The matches speak for themselves. It will be such a match again. We will play against Galatasaray in Kadıköy. We trust our players. The rising performance of our players recently, the decrease in injuries, and our momentum with our coach excite us a lot. We think it will be a beautiful match. Our most important message to our fans is; our fans have been our 12th man for about 2 months. Their performance has also risen significantly along with the team. We always feel that they are our 12th man in Kadıköy. We expect them to convey that power by concentrating on the match. The energy of our players is influenced by the fans. Let's support our team to the death for 90 minutes. Let's always convey that enthusiasm. Let's contribute to the performance of our players," he said.
FOREIGN REFEREE STATEMENT
Speaking about the referee, Ilıcalı said, "First of all, let me say for the 51st time, I said on Friday night, 'we want a foreign referee.' Let me say for the 52nd time, we want a foreign referee. We have always said we want a foreign referee on this issue. Mr. İbrahim Hatipoğlu made a very interesting statement yesterday. A scandalous statement. It wouldn't be easy to say memory loss, nor would it be right to say lack of information. Three days after our statement on Friday, he used the expressions 'they are not talking.'
"HE MADE A SCANDALOUS STATEMENT"
Responding to the statements of Galatasaray Sportif A.Ş. Vice President İbrahim Hatipoğlu, Ilıcalı said, "What interests me the most, the truly scandalous part is this; 'we had an advantage in terms of referees at our home ground,' they had advantages, 'our opponent created perception, created agenda, a foreign referee came,' he says. He is saying exactly this, 'We had an advantage at home in terms of referees, and our opponent created perception, did this and that,' he is blaming me, saying 'a foreign referee came.' I have a question, what kind of referee advantage does Galatasaray have at home? We have been asking this for two years. We were saying that referees do not treat Galatasaray fairly at home. If a Galatasaray executive comes out and says, 'We had an advantage with local referees at home,' doesn't that confirm us! We are saying yes, you had an advantage at home. We are also saying we want a foreign referee for our home matches. Fenerbahçe Club says 'give us a foreign referee for home matches, we want justice.' Galatasaray, which seeks privilege, I regret to say, this is also proof 'There was a local referee in the home match, pressure was applied, and it was changed to a foreign referee,' he says. This is now proof. I will bring this up a lot in the future. A scandalous statement. The moment you say 'we have an advantage with local referees at home,' you prove that you are putting pressure on referees and turning it into an advantage. Let them say something else, then I will laugh from now on," he said.