Vincenzo Montella's comments on Semih Kılıçsoy draw backlash from Beşiktaş fans

As part of preparations for Euro 2024, Turkey will play its second friendly match away against Austria.

A National Team head coach Vincenzo Montella made statements ahead of the match.

OUR COMPETITION LEVEL IS VERY HIGH

Speaking to TRT Spor, Montella said: "Every coach and player in the world wants to participate in the European Championship. All our preparations are continuing at full speed. We have dreams. We live with those dreams. I hope we walk toward big dreams together. We are doing very well. Our competition level is very high. I can say that we gave a very good performance in the last friendly match. I must also say that I have only been here for 5 matches."

The Italian coach continued: "When doing analysis, a coach's duty is to do this job without getting carried away by emotions. As a coach, I am proud of one thing: whoever we call up, it becomes a determined group with a sense of unity. This makes me happy and proud. It is important to spread out better on the field. We can do the final actions in the last part better. Hungary was a team that entered many positions before us. They could find very few positions in our match. Especially in the front, we were able to enter actions in this way. When you look at Hungary's last 10 matches, they were not a team that could be shot at so much. We were able to achieve this."

VINCENZO MONTELLA: "A GOAL IS ALWAYS A GOAL"

Regarding his team's offensive performance, Montella said: "It's not about having a striker who scores goals, but the more of a goal-scoring team we can be, the better. The midfield can score, the forward can score. A goal is always a goal. When we participate in the European Championship, we will only be able to select 23 players; players who can play in 2-3 different positions will be very useful."

WORDS ON ARDA GÜLER

Regarding the young talent Arda Güler, who plays for Real Madrid, Montella said: "Since the level of training and matches are different, it would be better for us if Arda gets a little more time and plays at Real Madrid. It would be better for Real Madrid, for Arda, and for us."

Speaking about squad selection, Montella said: "When I make my final decisions, there will inevitably be those who are upset. Let everyone's heart be at ease. I have never made a decision in my life based on politics or the color of a jersey. I choose players based on which names are more suitable for my game plan. If we cannot ensure inner peace in our country on these issues, it will be harder to achieve success. Let everyone's heart be at ease. I do not make my decisions for certain reasons. I choose based on which player is more suitable for the team and the game. In my eyes, there is only red and white."

AN IMMATURE PLAYER

Speaking about Semih Kılıçsoy, who was first called up to the A National Team and then sent to the U21 National Team, Montella said:

"I love Semih Kılıçsoy very much, I like him a lot. That's why I called him. He has very little experience at the international level. As managers and coaches, we need to accompany every player's journey for their development... My goal was to make him feel the scent of the A National Team at the age of 18. My message to Semih is this: we are here and we find you very valuable. If I'm not mistaken, he didn't play much in the U21 National Team either. There were two very important matches in the U21s. Since he had no international experience, I wanted to send him to those matches so that we could support his development. Playing 90 minutes there was very important for his development. If he had come with us, he might have played 5 or 10 minutes. We really value Semih a lot. Maybe in 2 months, I will think he is ready for these levels. Football is always a game of levels. There is the Süper Lig, Serie A, La Liga, there are other levels according to my perspective. I watched 200 matches live this year. There is the Conference League, Europa League, Champions League. These are different levels. Then there is the national team, the European Championship, the highest level. Let's think of a child going to school. You take him out of school and send him straight to university. Is it right to take a player who is still at the first level, take him from the first grade and send him to university, before he has matured? Should he go to university now, in 2 months, or in 6 months? Which would be more correct? These kinds of speculations are not for the benefit of the national team, not for the benefit of the player, not for the benefit of our country. I can accept this: you can criticize me for not evaluating a player correctly, I can accept that. But not for other things."