06.03.2025 10:50
After Benfica's defeat to Barcelona in the Champions League, the Portuguese press criticized our national football player Kerem Aktürkoğlu's performance. The Portuguese media, which found Kerem's performance inadequate, published a critique with the headline, "The million-dollar question: Where is the Turk?" Despite Barcelona playing with 10 men, their victory and Kerem Aktürkoğlu's failure to deliver the expected performance became a hot topic.
Last night in the Champions League, Barcelona faced Benfica in Portugal. Despite being reduced to 10 men, Barcelona won the match, in which Kerem and Orkun started in the starting eleven.
THE GOALKEEPER MADE A MARK ON THE MATCH
In the 18th second of the match, Barcelona goalkeeper Szczesny made a last-minute save from Kerem Aktürkoğlu's shot inside the penalty area, making 7 crucial saves in the match. The guest team Barcelona won the tightly contested match with a single goal. After the match, the Portuguese press harshly criticized our national football player Kerem Aktürkoğlu's performance.
The goal that brought victory to Barcelona was scored by Raphinha in the 61st minute. In the 22nd minute of the match, Pau Cubarsi from the guest team was sent off with a red card. Following this result, Barcelona gained an advantage before the return match.
RECORD FROM BARCELONA
Despite having to play a significant portion of the match with one less player due to Curbarsí's red card in the 22nd minute, Barcelona won against Benfica, gaining an advantage in the last 16 of the Champions League. This statistic indicates an unprecedented success for the Catalan team, as it is the first time in the history of the million-dollar tournament that a team won away after playing with one less player for such a long time (69 minutes).
The previous record belonged to Juventus, who won after playing with one less player for 62 minutes in the 2018 Champions League group stage against Valencia. In that match, Cristiano Ronaldo received a red card, leaving his team at a disadvantage.
ABOLA: THE MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION: WHERE IS THE TURK?
After the match, the Portuguese newspaper Abola harshly criticized Kerem Aktürkoğlu in its match evaluation. Abola, giving Kerem a score of 4 out of 10 for his performance in the Barcelona match, stated, "The million-dollar question: Where is the Turk who amazed Benfica fans in the first two months of the season? He did not show the composure to head the ball in the best possible way in the first half and allowed Szczesny to make the save. He became more involved in the game in the second half, but still was too careless to create the danger he posed in August, September, and October of last year."