19.02.2025 16:30
Galatasaray's head coach Okan Buruk evaluated the Turkish Football Federation's decision to assign a foreign referee for the Fenerbahçe derby. Buruk stated, "There was already such a plan, and we had somehow heard that a decision had been made regarding this. Hopefully, the referee has not been chosen as decided. It is important for us that the referee is good. The referee's passport is not important. I look at the field. The selected referee is very important."
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Galatasaray Head Coach Okan Buruk spoke at a press conference held before the UEFA Europa League Round of 16 playoff second leg match against AZ Alkmaar. Buruk also commented on the TFF's decision to appoint a foreign referee for the Fenerbahçe derby.
"WE ARE CHASING HOPE, NOT JUST A MATCH"
Okan Buruk's statements are as follows;
"Tomorrow we are not just going out for a match, we are chasing a hope, a success that is in the history, essence, and genes of Galatasaray. Therefore, we will approach this round with the same hope we had before the first match. The beginning and continuation of the match will be important to nurture our hopes with the pressure we will create together with our audience. We represent Galatasaray and our country. We need to do what we have to do in the first match tomorrow. We will strive to advance to the next round. We believe. I hope we will be the team that advances. They came directly to this match because they have no matches after ours. A young, dynamic team that knows each other. We knew their successes at home, we will see what they can do against us away, and we will do our best to challenge them fiercely and advance to the next round.
"WE ARE GOING THROUGH A VERY INTENSE PACE"
We are going through a very intense match pace. We are playing a match every 3 days in January and February. We have no chance to prepare physically. We rest our players and take them out for matches with a short tactical training one day before the match. Looking at the first half of the Alkmaar match and the Rizespor match, we carried the Rize match to the end in a superior way rather than physically. Mentally, our biggest problem in the last two matches has been ball losses. It is concerning that a team of Galatasaray's quality has so many ball losses. We had unexpected players losing the ball a lot. We cannot disrupt the superiority and balance of the game in our favor, we give confidence to the opponent. Especially, it will be important for the ball to stay with us. Physically, they are coming without playing a league match, they will set the pace during the match. We also want to set our own pace. We saw in the Rize match, when it was 1-1, the match kept stopping. Goalkeepers wasting time is a problem, and referees in Turkey allow this.
"FENERBAHÇE IS THE NEXT MATCH"
We need to focus on the Alkmaar match. Fenerbahçe is the next match. Today we are thinking about this match, we will focus on this match. Right now, the priority in our minds is not the Fenerbahçe match. During the match, we sometimes think about the next match depending on the situation. The only thing we are thinking about is tomorrow's match.
TFF'S DECISION TO APPOINT A FOREIGN REFEREE FOR THE DERBY
Foreign referee... There was already such a plan, we had somehow heard that a decision was made regarding this. It was coming as a rumor. The decision was made. What is important for us is to have a good referee, I have said this before. I hope the referee has not been selected as decided. It will be evaluated correctly. Having a good referee is important for us. I never said that the referee's passport is not important. I look at the field. The selected referee is very important. There are a lot of rumors going around. If such a decision has been made, selecting the best referee will be good for Turkish football and the derby.
"WE WILL TRY TO USE OUR AWAY PERFORMANCE"
Jordy Clasie was one of the important players of the team. He showed a good game with his experience and quality when the ball was with them. The opponent has some absences. We have some players returning. They came out with a very incomplete squad in the first match, we were missing 6-7 players. We struggled both in the starting 11 and in substitutions. We are not crowded in this match again, but we are in a better position than the first match. We know our opponent. We want to challenge them more in the match they will play away. They were successful at home, they only drew with us. The fact that our opponent is both young and has away performance gives us hope. We will try to use this.
EXPLANATION FOR THE SYSTEM IN THE AZ MATCH
Firstly, of course, in the last match, especially in the second half, we placed Sara next to Osimhen. We played 4-2-3-1 in the same way. This is the system we have used the most for 2.5 years. There were times we played with a three-man defense and did well. Once we started conceding goals, the three-man defense was always discussed. When we conceded these goals with a four-man defense, it was more about positional errors and wrong decisions than changes... Our poor performance when we have the ball allows the ball to go to the opponent and enables them to create chances. We decide on the formation according to the players we have. The four-man defense was one of the good things we did in 2 years. We will continue with both four-man and three-man defenses.
I believe we will make the right decisions according to the player structure, the opponent, and the players' form. As a head coach, I imagine my players performing at their highest level when preparing them for the match. A mistake during the match can affect the next action and change the players' performances. I think what we need to increase right now is to have possession of the ball. When we have possession, we produce more comfortably. With Lemina's entry into the game, we increased our possession of the ball significantly.
GROUND AND SNOW FALL
I hope there will be no snowfall during the match tomorrow evening. For both the pitch and the quality of the match... There is a risk for the weekend, for Monday. It doesn't matter for us. If Galatasaray believes in something, if it is chasing something, neither the ground nor the atmosphere should be important. We should only focus on our work and success. We always need to show how important and valuable Galatasaray is, and that we are in the game to advance to the next round."
"4-1 DISAPPOINTMENT! FANS SHOULD TRUST US"
A 4-1 defeat is a big disappointment for us. We wouldn't think of such a thing before coming to the match. The expectations are very high from us. The expectations from Galatasaray are very high. The stories of the match can be like this. It didn't start as we wanted, it didn't develop. After going down to 10 men, we clearly gave superiority to our opponent. We cannot know that the same scenario will not happen again. Everything is possible in football. Without getting stuck on the first match, we want to give our opponent the same difficulty and get the score to advance to the next round. Perhaps we are very upset... We live for Galatasaray, for the Galatasaray fans. We have always made them happy for 2.5 years. Such results always upset the Galatasaray fans. These are results we have not experienced. We have had 2 defeats, one from Ajax and the other from AZ. We were very upset. They shouldn't worry, we will make our fans very happy. They should trust us."
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