Galatasaray were beaten 4-1 by AZ Alkmaar in the first leg of the UEFA Europa League knockout playoffs, and a Turkish commentator has explained the key factor behind the defeat......CONTINUE READING THE ARTICLE FROM THE SOURCE>>>>>
The new format of the European club competitions means that clubs that finished from ninth to 24th on the combined 36-team table go through a playoff to select eight teams that will join first to eighth in the round of 16.
The Turkish champions finished 14th and were drawn against Dutch opposition AZ Alkmaar, which they also faced in the group stage, a match that ended 1-1.
The first leg was played at the AFAS Stadium, and Galatasaray, which, according to A Spor, missed three players due to suspension, finished the game with 10 men and were beaten 4-1
The result makes the second leg at Rams Park next week a difficult one for the Turkish club, and faces likely elimination from the competition.
Pundit gives reason for Galatasaray’s loss
Turkish pundit Onder Ozen has reflected on Galatasaray’s loss and blamed the absence of three key players for the devastating defeat.
“No Torreira, no Davinson Sanchez, no Osimhen. You can’t play the same game without the three important players in the backbone,” he told Neo Spor, as quoted by Haber Sari Kirmizi.
“Sometimes you have to play according to the conditions. This is the first time I’ve seen Galatasaray this disorganised in the last 2.5 years.”
Ozen added that the Lions were lucky to have left the Netherlands with that scoreline, as it could have been worse if their opponents took their chances more.
“Galatasaray was very lucky that the score did not go to different places. Even Galatasaray, who were 13th, did not give away chances so often. There is another clear goal opportunity before and after every goal. This is a very serious mess,” he said.
Okan Buruk assesses Galatasaray’s defeat
Head coach Okan Buruk did not shy away from admitting that his team were bad in every phase and refused to blame being down to 10 men for how bad the result was.
“I said it before the game. We came up short. We had important absences. We had difficulty making 11 players from the bench, but no matter what, we have no right to play this badly. I have to underline that. We were not good in 11-on-11 games either,” he told GS TV.
“We should not interpret this game and this defeat based on being down to 10 men. We did everything badly. We could not defend, we could not play when the ball was with us. We could not pass the ball. We could not keep it on our feet, we could not pass it to our teammates.”
Yilmaz praises Osimhen and others
Legit.ng reported that Galatasaray star Baris Alper Yilmaz praised Osimhen and two other teammates as the top-quality and experienced players in the team.
The young Turkish winger acknowledged them as the senior players in the team whom most of them learn from and hope will carry the team to achieve its goals this season.