Kerem Aktürkoğlu speaks after the Nice match

In the second week of the UEFA Europa League, Fenerbahçe defeated France's Nice 2-1 at home. Speaking to reporters after the match, the yellow-navy player Kerem Aktürkoğlu said, "The important thing was the victory. I am also particularly happy to have contributed to the win with my goals."

We wanted to gift our fans a victory with good football and performance. That was all we wanted. I think we achieved this by playing good football and reflecting it on the pitch. The important thing was the victory. I am also happy to have contributed individually. I hope it continues like this," he said.

"HIS VALUE IS NOT FULLY APPRECIATED"

Stating that İsmail Yüksek is a good player, Aktürkoğlu said, "He is a player whose value is not fully appreciated. He is an excellent person. We have been together, including in the national teams. We have always had a great relationship. I was constantly talking with İsmail. I really wanted to come here, and İsmail encouraged me a lot. That is why our friendship continues beautifully here as well. Thanks to him, he also provided the assist for the second goal today. I think the player of the match is definitely İsmail. He has been playing amazingly for two weeks. I salute the efforts of my teammates."

When reminded that he scored two goals against Nice, the 26-year-old player said, "When you score, you are the best player in the world; when you don't, you are the worst. Unfortunately, football is a bit ungrateful in this regard. I am always happy after the team wins. Of course, scoring goals and making assists individually is very important, but the victory is more important than anything else."

"I WAS TRULY MOVED"

Emphasizing that everyone at Samandıra gets along well, the yellow-navy player said, "I joined later. Of course, at first, my relationship with the Turkish players was better, but now I am very close to everyone. When everyone ran towards me after the goal, I was truly moved. We have a very beautiful environment. If we cannot reflect this on the pitch in terms of scores, people will talk about different things. We really have a very beautiful environment. When we reflect this on the pitch, its meaning and importance increase even more. I hope we continue this. We can give our fans what they want."

"HE SAID HE WAS VERY PLEASED WITH ME"

When asked about his thoughts on Fenerbahçe manager Domenico Tedesco, Kerem Aktürkoğlu replied, "He is truly a very valuable person. We spoke with him last night as well. When I asked him what he expected from me, he said he was very pleased with me. That is important to me. I have social media accounts, but I do not use social media. I have a team. People share different things about me. I think I might be the only footballer in Turkey for whom such specific statistics are kept. No one else's statistics are tracked like this. After I left Turkey, those statistics stopped being kept, and since I returned, they have started being tracked again. This is very annoying. These are very trivial things. Footballers are being evaluated through applications. If the score is high, they played amazingly; if it is low, they played very poorly. I do not believe in this in football. People who know football do not believe in it either. It has no real value. When I spoke with my manager, he said he was very pleased with me. Contributing to the score is something every footballer wants. I am a player who can contribute to the score. I have performed well until now. People may have expectations. When I spoke with my manager, he told me that even during periods when I could not contribute to the score, he was satisfied and that I was doing everything as he wanted. What matters to me is what my manager says and what people who truly understand football say. The rest is not very important."

Stating that his 'Harry Potter' goal celebration here was different, Aktürkoğlu concluded his remarks by saying, "Because you saw my teammates, they wanted it very much too. They celebrated with me. Today was much more meaningful for me."