Galatasaray lost 1-0 to Swiss team Young Boys in the second match of the UEFA Champions League Play-off Round and was eliminated. After the match, Galatasaray Technical Director Okan Buruk evaluated the match.
Buruk said, “I would like to come out here as the coach of the team that will play in the Champions League after the match. Because we dreamed of at least one team representing our country there. That was our goal but we couldn’t achieve it. That’s why we are sad, we are experiencing this sadness as a community. I think we played very slowly especially in the first half, we couldn’t carry the ball forward correctly. We had problems in setting up the game. Our opponent met us correctly. We had to find solutions for this, of course we said these solutions in training but our game speed was not good. There were important absences especially in both matches. We wanted Davinson Sanchez to be absent in both matches. We had difficulty carrying the ball especially from the defense.
We needed to produce more, to create more positions. In the second half, we played the ball a little more in front of the opponent’s goal, we had a little more possession of the ball. Our clearest goal opportunity was Icardi’s shot, maybe we could have made it 1-0. We conceded a pass on the return and fell behind 1-0, then we got a red card. We saw that we didn’t play very well as a team. We didn’t play very well in the Molde match last year either, but we finished better, we were lucky and won. We fell far short of what we had imagined. I thank our fans, they supported the team from the beginning to the end of the match and applauded the team after the match. They embraced the champion of the last 2 years. We will continue on our way in the Europa League, which is a very important league for us. We will set goals for ourselves there. The return of our injured players and at least 2 transfers we will make will shape our squad structure a little more. I have no doubt about the goodwill of my players. The first responsibility is always on me. The coach who chooses them, shares with them and prepares for the match with them is the one. “We can do better, we will do better. We will raise our heads and continue on our way. We will try to go to the highest places we deserve in the Europa League,” he said.
“Our biggest problem is lack of concentration”
Okan Buruk, who mentioned that their biggest problem is lack of concentration, said, “We are the ones who have won the most derbies in the last two years. This is also the team that beat Manchester United in the Champions League groups. I think our biggest problem is lack of concentration. The less we care about our opponents, the more we see ourselves as guaranteed, the more we say we will pass this round anyway, the less we concentrate than our opponents, the less we get into the game as much as they do, if we don’t believe in it and don’t put up this fight, this is our biggest problem. We played much more of this game against Bayern Munich. We won almost all of our derby games in two years. We need to continue our games here more seriously, regardless of our opponents. I think we don’t fight in these games as much as our opponents do, we don’t want them as much as they do. The technical director is the one who will provide this. I don’t attribute this to the player. The technical director is the one who will choose the right player for this and make him play. We have lost very few games in two years, but in the games we have lost, this lack of concentration has always cost us.
I can also think that excessive motivation, especially in the first half of this match, put pressure on the players. They wanted it so much. We also have problems from time to time in terms of the squad. Galatasaray team needs to perform much better than today’s game in terms of squad structure,” he said.
“We can continue in the Europa League with new successes”
The 50-year-old technical director, who stated that he was more responsible for the defeat than the players and that they experienced Davinson Sanchez’s absence, said, “I have no doubt that my players are well-intentioned and that they did 100% of their best. Lack of concentration can happen to anyone sometimes. The players are the least blameless party in this business. I always have the first priority. Of course, we have shortcomings. Especially after the Beşiktaş match, I have to say clearly that there is a world of difference between the game with Davinson Sanchez and the game without Davinson Sanchez. There may be reinforcements in the defense line after he returns. We will make transfers. We never played with our full squad in these matches. There is a big difference between the Hatay match, where Davinson was present, and the other two matches in terms of both speed and playmaking.
Of course, I do not attribute the defeat to the absence of a single player. If you are pressuring up front, having one quick player behind makes your job easier. We had a hard time setting up the game today. We will make reinforcements, we will part ways with those we want to part ways with. We will raise our heads and prepare for the match we will play this weekend. Our goals of the 25th championship, the 5th star and great successes in Europe continue. We will not fall behind. We are sad for today, our dream and goal were different. Of course, the club would have a great income financially. It was very important for our players to be in a prestigious tournament. We can continue this with new successes in the Europa League,” he said.
“We did not deserve to win the match or advance to the next round”
The experienced coach, who also made statements regarding the question of whether he had made a wrong starting 11, said, “We all say that Galatasaray needs to play 2 forwards before the match. Batshuayi scored 2 goals the previous match. Sometimes you cannot get the same efficiency from 2 forwards during the match. We wanted to use Barış at the back in a physical contact game. We also wanted to use Hakim Ziyech especially in terms of productivity. Everything was fine with me before the match, but our performances were very low. I don’t think it was due to player stereotyping. We played very badly as a team. In a game where our quality has decreased, it is not very right to evaluate the positions. Sometimes we lost the balls so easily that our opponent did everything well, contrary to us. Even players who may not have reached this quality in their lives did incredible things in my opinion. The fact that they are comfortable here and we put ourselves under pressure clearly shows that we could not achieve what we wanted.
In the absence of Davinson and Abdülkerim, we had to move Kaan to the middle, so we couldn’t get his full performance. We were using Kaan very well both in the right wing and in the middle. Jelert’s physical inadequacy also pushed us to different thoughts here. You want to change some things at the end of the match, but there are differences between what you imagine and think before the match and what you think after the match. I only expected us to play better. When we look at all parts of the match, we didn’t deserve to win the match and advance to the next round,” he said.
