Okan Buruk's response to Mourinho: "We are the ones in the lead, there's no need to look back."

Okan Buruk's response to Mourinho:

20.01.2025 14:30

Galatasaray's head coach Okan Buruk responded to Fenerbahçe's coach Jose Mourinho's statement, "In my opinion, we are ahead." Buruk said, "Our goal is to win all the matches until the end of the league. We are the ones who are at the top and leading. There is no need to look back."

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Super League giant Galatasaray's head coach Okan Buruk responded to the words of his eternal rival Fenerbahçe's head coach Jose Mourinho, who said, 'In my opinion, we are ahead.'



Buruk stated, "Looking at the last two matches, we defeated two tough teams like Göztepe and Başakşehir and drew with Hatayspor. The ability to play the matches is more important than the difficulty of the matches. We did it last year. We won 17 consecutive away matches. We can play these matches well. When we show unity with our players and fans, we did this last year and won 17 consecutive matches. Our goal is to win all the matches until the end of the league. We are the ones at the top, leading the way. There is no need to look back," he said.



Highlights from Buruk's speech;



Stating that they did not experience a concentration problem, Okan Buruk said, "You cannot say to a team that has won 17 consecutive away matches, 'You are not concentrating.' We take every match seriously. We respect every opponent. We dominated the second half of the Hatayspor match. Right now, we are 6 points ahead in the league. We have only had 3 draws. In those matches, the ball just wouldn't go in. We created a lot of chances. We won all the matches we played at home. The players take every match seriously, but in the end, they are human too. We are playing a lot of matches. There are also the Turkish Cup and the Europa League. There are national team matches as well. Players may struggle with this intense pace. Despite all this, I can say that we are doing well," he evaluated.



The experienced coach expressed that the bench is getting thinner, saying, "In the UEFA Europa League, Rolland Sallai and Eyüp Aydın are not on the list. These players were ones who could have had a chance tomorrow. We have a good 11. Those coming from the bench are important, but the players starting the match also have the quality to win the match. After the Ajax match, we can add our transfers to the list. The performance of the players coming into the game is important. Here, it falls a bit on us. We will prepare our players to be more ready." he stated.



Emphasizing that their first goal in the UEFA Europa League is to reach the top 8, Buruk said, "If we get into the top 8, we will play one less round. Our main goal is to play in the final. We dream of that. There is a long way to go. The draw, matches, and injuries are important. As a Turkish team, we want to play in the final again. We want to continue the European success that is in Galatasaray's genes. There are strong teams. The fact that no team comes from the Champions League is also a big advantage." he expressed.



"WE WILL FOCUS ON OUR OWN WORK"



Stating that they have defeated tough teams until the Hatayspor match, Buruk said, "Göztepe and RAMS Başakşehir were teams that were higher up the rankings. We defeated them. Hatayspor is lower in the rankings. There is a team that has won 17 consecutive matches. This means we are playing these matches well. Our goal is to win all the matches until the end of the league. We will focus on our own work." he evaluated.



"CONGRATULATIONS TO SOLSKJAER FOR TURKISH FOOTBALL"



Regarding Beşiktaş's new head coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Buruk said, "Congratulations to Solskjaer for Turkish football. He is an important coach. He has done significant work in Europe as both a player and a coach. It is important for such names to come to the country. I wish the best for Beşiktaş and Turkish football." he said.



Stating that Victor Osimhen is a top-level striker, Buruk said, "Scoring players can sometimes show movement to prioritize based on the position. The important thing is that he scores goals and is involved in the position. We analyze all the matches. Burak Yılmaz was one of the best scorers in Turkish football. He used to roam between defenses. When he wasn't offside, he would score. We can say the same for Osimhen. We are trying to show how he can be better with video analysis." he spoke.



"WE ARE THE BEST TEAM IN THE LEAGUE IN FINISHING"



Emphasizing that they are one of the teams that create the most chances, Buruk said, "We are the best team in the league in finishing. There may be problems match by match. The important thing is to get into positions. We want to keep the game going. Our priority is offense. That’s why we can give positions. The number of matches we have closed without conceding a goal is low. This is also one of the areas we are unhappy about. The number of goals we have scored is high, and this is pleasing. Individual performances can also be important. Our goal is to be a Galatasaray that concedes fewer goals." he stated.



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