08.02.2025 20:51
In the 23rd week of the Trendyol Super League, Konyaspor's head coach Recep Uçar, whose team lost 3-2 to Kayserispor, said, "They said 'the VAR system was out of order.' Then they drew a ridiculous line. Today, they clearly canceled our goal through an operation. They took away the happiness of the people of Konya and the Konya fans. They took away the effort of my players."
Konyaspor lost 3-2 away in the 23rd week of the Trendyol Super League. After the match, the guest team's head coach Recep Uçar made scathing statements following the cancellation of the equalizing goal in the final minutes.
"'THE VAR WAS OUT OF ORDER,' THEY SAID, 'THEY PULLED AN OPERATION ON US'" Uçar thanked the Kayserispor fans, management, and players for their support during the press conference held after the match. Stating that they played a high-tension match, Uçar said, "We can win or lose. It was an interesting game where Kayserispor played well at times, and we played well at times. The equalizing goal we found in the last minutes was a goal that everyone in the stadium, including our fans, celebrated, and everyone, including the Kayserispor bench, was upset about 'how we conceded.' What did they do to that goal, which no one objected to? They said, 'The VAR system was out of order.' Then they drew a ridiculous line. It is clear how far back our player's body was; the fingertip, a centimeter, a view that you wouldn't be able to adjust even if you looked at it under a microscope. They said, 'It's being checked manually.' No matter how you look at it, it was a position that would leave you with nothing in hand. To be clear, today they very clearly canceled our goal by pulling an operation. They took away the happiness of the people of Konya, the joy of the Konya fans. They took away the effort of my players," he said.
"WE ARE DECREASING THE BRAND VALUE OF TURKISH FOOTBALL" Addressing the President of the Central Refereeing Committee, Ferhat Gündoğdu, and claiming that Konyaspor's rights have been violated in 6 matches, Uçar continued his remarks as follows;
"You are stealing the efforts of my children. You are oppressing our efforts; I have been experiencing this for 4 years. There cannot be such a system. We need to talk about the beauties. Nonsensical fabrications, pulling operations, these are not acceptable. We are decreasing the brand value of Turkish football. The 1 point they took from us by pulling an operation. Should I be angry with myself, or should I be angry with my players? I don't know anymore after weeks. To be clear, as a 50-year-old man, I want to win every match fairly or lose fairly, but I don't want to gain anything I don't deserve or lose anything I don't deserve. This is what we have been experiencing for years. I'm sorry, and the reason I'm sorry is not just because we are losing; we are losing everything, all stakeholders of football, reliability, humanity, credibility, sincerity, we are losing everything."
HE ADDRESSED THE KONYASPOR COMMUNITY Uçar also addressed the Konyaspor community, stating that despite the support of their fans, they could not win today's match. He expressed that they wanted to win the second match in a row but were saddened that they could not achieve it, saying, "The Konya fans should be at ease. We will do what we need to do to stay away from the relegation zone, starting with the Samsunspor match next week, and we will win the matches. For that, we will put everything we have on the line together."
WHAT HAPPENED? Konyaspor equalized to 3-3 with Hamidou Keyta's goal in the 86th minute of the match, but after approximately 5 minutes of review in VAR, the goal was canceled due to offside. This decision led to controversies, and Konyaspor officials entered the field after the match. Konyaspor's Administrative Manager Hüseyin Bilgin went to the referee Çağdaş Altay after the final whistle and showed the disallowed goal due to offside on a tablet. Additionally, the green-white club reacted to referee Altay in a match post on their social media account. A note was added to the post featuring a photo of Çağdaş Altay: "The match was finished."