Okan Buruk's penalty reaction: No one can call my player a fraud

In the first leg of the UEFA Europa League Play-Off round, Galatasaray will be the guest of Dutch side AZ Alkmaar away from home. Before the match, which will kick off at 23:00 TSI, Galatasaray manager Okan Buruk held a press conference at the AFAS Stadium, where the match will be played.

Stating that they have significant absences but trust the players who will take the field, Okan Buruk said, “It is a stadium we know well. We played a match here recently. It was a group stage match. It was a single-leg game. Now a two-leg series awaits us. For both teams, spreading it over two matches—especially since we are playing the first leg away—will be important for us to get an advantageous result to advance in the second leg at our own home ground.

We will think about this. We had previously followed what our opponent does well in the game. There is a lot we have learned from this. Likewise, our opponent will learn these things from us. They know us well too. Both teams will play to win and gain an advantage.

I trust my players. We have important absences. We have suspended players, I have injured players. We did not come here with a large squad. I trust the starting 11 and the teammates who will continue. Hopefully, we will try to gain an important advantage for the second leg,” he said.

‘A GOOD TRANSFER PERIOD PASSED’

Stating that they had a good transfer period, Okan Buruk said, “One needs to look at it a bit objectively. The country we live in, people being more emotional, more impatient, wanting the most—Galatasaray created this desire for the most. Mr. Dursun Özbek created this in his third year. The expectation is very high. When the expectation is high, pressure builds on the team and the management when transfers are delayed from time to time. We need to compete on one hand, focus on the field on the other, and carry out transfer-related work on the other.

In my opinion, it went very well, just as we planned. The biggest difficulty here was that we could only register 3 people for the European list. Ziyech and Nelsson left. There was a difficulty in this sense. We could not register some of the incoming players to the list. We are experiencing the trouble of this in this match as well. We have suspended players, we have injured players. Batshuayi had also been removed from the list.

That is why we are experiencing trouble in this sense. Transfer periods pass like this. I think we had a good transfer period. We are 6 points ahead in the league. We have an important match in Europe. We have come this far. I think the transfer period went well. My job will actually be harder from now on. There are very high-quality, good players. We have a quality squad. Especially for the league. My job will be a little harder from now on,” he said.

‘NO ONE CAN CALL MY PLAYER A FRAUD’

Emphasizing that no one can call his players a fraud, Okan Buruk stated that he believes the TFF will give the necessary penalties regarding this issue. Buruk said, “The necessary answers have been given. The slanders made, the mistakes made. The disrespect shown to my players, the insults... Whoever calls my player a fraud, the TFF will give the penalty for this. We can count so many things within football; of course, the attitudes of the players on the field are important.

We all want different things, but we can count so many actions throughout the year that we could perhaps count 5 penalties like this for Fenerbahçe. Footballers try this. Sometimes when the opponent's foot comes, this is not only in football but also in basketball.

The player goes and sometimes draws the foul. In other words, they go to draw a foul. The one who will decide this is the referee. Of course, we will discuss the right and the wrong. Furthermore, there is a system called VAR that the whole world uses. I think it is very wrong to talk about the mistakes made by the referees here through the players. Of course, I am not saying you did well regarding players who do this constantly. I am not saying this for anyone, for any team, but there are so many players in Turkey who do this that sometimes a player puts their foot in positionally. It does not suit to burden one player with this. No one can call my player a fraud. I am sure that the TFF will give the necessary penalties regarding this,” he said.

News Source: 12punto