Okan Buruk reacts to foreign VAR! He explains the incident where he expected a penalty

In the 20th week of the Süper Lig, league leaders Galatasaray dropped points away at Hatayspor.

Cemali Sertel stepped up in the 28th minute to put Hatayspor 1-0 ahead. Galatasaray's equalizer came from a Victor Osimhen penalty in the 56th minute.

With this result, league leaders Galatasaray moved to 51 points. Atakaş Hatayspor, currently in the relegation zone, brought their points tally to 10.

Galatasaray manager Okan Buruk made evaluations to beIN SPORTS after the match. Buruk expressed his reaction regarding the foreign VAR official and explained the incident where he expected a penalty.

Here are Buruk's statements:

"After a certain minute, we made slow movements. We played long passes. The changes at the beginning of the second half were intended to speed up the game. We created many chances to win the match. The ball just wouldn't go in. Towards the end, there were many positions we used poorly. We created so many chances, but we could have created 5-6 more. I am satisfied with my players' effort. I'm not counting the first half. We didn't understand the importance of the match. We did poor work. We gave our opponent the chance to take the lead and be resilient. There was good intent in the game. If our finishing had been good, it could have been a very comfortable match. We had a winning streak in 17 away matches. We had also dropped points here last year.

Our players coming off the bench are trying to do their best. While the game was going well, we brought on a second striker. Barış looked both tired and like he could continue. We made the Batshuayi move. We could have expected Batshuayi to contribute in a better way. Despite finding an early goal, we couldn't turn the game around. We had a very clear penalty incident in the first half. Just because a foreign VAR has arrived doesn't mean we won't criticize them. Just as we criticize Turkish referees, they too will receive their share of these criticisms. Moving your hand toward the ball is a penalty anywhere in the world. We wanted to continue with a midfielder to build play."

"WE NEEDED TO DO BETTER"

Stating that they could not get their passing speed right in the first half, Buruk said, "I could say it was perhaps 45 minutes we wasted. A surprise goal we conceded from a set-piece here caused us to finish the first half 1-0 behind."

The experienced manager stated that they put up a superior fight in the second half, saying, "We actually played a very good second half. We produced many chances, scored a goal, got into scoring positions, and missed very clear goals. When we look at the end of the match, it was a game we couldn't win. We are, of course, very sad about this. I also want to congratulate Hatayspor for their effort. We could have done better in the game; we needed to." he said.

Explaining that they could not capitalize on numerous scoring chances in the second half, Buruk noted the following:

"After the decisions we made, especially towards the end of the match, we could have gotten into clearer positions, but unfortunately, we couldn't get into those clear positions either; we made poor choices. Especially in the second half, we fought in the right way and played the right game, but we couldn't score. In this sense, we are of course sad. We have an advantage. We want to maintain this advantage. We were going to make a mistake somewhere, and we made it here. This will serve as a big lesson for us."

Reminding that they will face Dynamo Kyiv in the UEFA Europa League on January 21, Buruk said, "We have a European cup match to play in 4 days. We need to take the field here in a much better way and show our unity." he expressed.