Statement from İsmail Kartal on Fred: There are some things going on
Fenerbahçe manager İsmail Kartal expressed his happiness at advancing to the play-offs after defeating Austria's Sturm Graz 1-0 in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round, following their 2-0 win in the first leg.
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Speaking at the press conference held after the match, Kartal said, "We played a very disciplined game in both matches.
We created chances but could only score 1 goal. There are things we are doing better step by step every day.
We saw some shortcomings today and we are working to fix them. I am very happy that we advanced by winning the round. We had much clearer goal-scoring opportunities. If we had converted one of our 4 clear chances in the first half, we could have put the game away early. We are very happy to have won," he said.
Reminding that there are 2 more matches for the UEFA Champions League, İsmail Kartal continued as follows:
"Our preparations for the Lyon match will also continue. Our match schedule is very intense. We need to protect and rest the players. We are focusing on these aspects as well. There were parts of the game where the opponent was superior to us. We had very clear chances. We had 6-7 one-hundred-percent clear chances. You can face pressure from time to time in away games. You are facing a young team. We could have put the game away much earlier. These types of matches are like this; if you don't score, the opponent's resistance increases. This is one of the areas we need to correct, and we are working on it."
When asked about reports that Fred had bid farewell to the fans, Kartal gave the following response:
"Our management and transfer committee are working on this issue. There are some things going on between him and the management. Let's wait and see what happens in time. There is time for all of us. We have been matched with Lyon. We want to give our fans this happiness after an 18-year wait. Playing and competing in the Champions League is difficult, but I think we can overcome this. I hope we get through the Gençlerbirliği match in the best way possible. It doesn't matter who comes in or out of our team; all our players are very valuable. Those changes were necessary at that moment; we needed to make an impact on the game. We brought on competitive players who can hold the ball in the front line."