04.09.2025 22:10
Hakan Çalhanoğlu and Yunus Akgün responded to allegations of a dispute between them. The national team players stated that the claims were false and emphasized that such news aimed at disrupting team harmony should not be taken seriously. In his statement, Hakan said, "Yunus is next to me, his eye is not bruised. (Laughing) This is the national team, there is no such thing here! We have endless respect for the communities, but we represent the flag."
The National Team managed to defeat Georgia 3-2 away in the first match of the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers. After the match, Hakan Çalhanoğlu and Yunus Akgün made statements, happily denying the claims that they had fought during training.
'YUNUS IS NEXT TO ME, HIS EYE IS NOT BRUISED'
Speaking about the news of the dispute involving Kerem Aktürkoğlu, Abdülkerim Bardakcı, and Yunus Akgün, Hakan Çalhanoğlu said, "We actually expected a different match. We expected a team that presses more. We could have gotten a different score. We struggled after the red card, but the important thing is the 3 points. Yunus is next to me, his eye is not bruised. (Laughing) This is the national team, there is no such thing here! We have endless respect for the communities, but we represent our flag here. There is absolutely no such dispute. Neither Yunus, nor Kerem, nor Abdülkerim... We are all brothers here. This is the national team! We are happy, Yunus is next to me, we have no such problem." he said.
'NOW IT'S TIME FOR KONYA'
Continuing his words, Çalhanoğlu said, "Our goal is big, we want to go to the World Cup. We will try to do our best. We want to be better. We needed to fight more in the second half. I congratulate my teammates. Everyone tried their best. The important thing is to start with 3 points. Now it's time for Konya. We have historic victories there. Hopefully, it will happen again. They never left us alone. Our fans will do their best, and we will do our best." he expressed.
"THERE IS NO SUCH THING"
Yunus Akgün also stated that there is a good atmosphere within the team, saying, "We made a good start. The red card upset us, but we knew how to win. Hakan brother and I were side by side and we laughed. Hakan brother is the captain and leader of this team. There is no such thing. There is a perfect atmosphere. Let's not try to ruin this. We want to continue like this. We want to win the next match and continue on our path." he said.
"IT WAS A GOAL WE WORKED ON"
The star striker also commented, "It was a goal we worked on in training. It was exactly what we wanted. We will analyze this. We are very happy to have won. Hopefully, we will continue like this."