Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray faced each other at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium in the Turkcell Super Cup final. The yellow-dark blue team won the match 2-0 and took the cup to its museum.
After the match, Fenerbahçe Coach Domenico Tedesco made important evaluations. Expressing his satisfaction with the character of his players on the field, Tedesco made a special note about the new transfer Matteo Guendouzi:
“You saw how Guendouzi played. He put such great character into the game. It was as if he had been here for 8 months.”
Stating that he was very happy to win the cup, Tedesco emphasized the team spirit:
“We are a strong team and we become stronger together.”
Stating that the real owners of the celebrations are the players, the Italian coach sent a special thank you to the fans:
“They are the ones fighting on the field. For me, this cup belongs to the Fenerbahçe family and our fans. They are incredible. It is a great pleasure and honor for me to be the coach of these fans.”
Evaluating the overall performance of the match, Tedesco stated that he was satisfied with the play in the first half:
“We must progress step by step. Today we will celebrate this cup. This is a great motivation for us. We played an impressive game in the first half, we could have scored 3-4 goals.”
Tedesco made a humorous comment about Leroy Sane, who plays for the opposing team.
“He scored against me in every match we played in Germany. I’m glad he didn’t score this time,”
he said.
Referring to the situation of injured players, the experienced coach underlined the problems experienced especially in the left back:
“Levent was bouncing today. We will look at his situation because we do not have another left-back. Coaches always think about the next training and match.”
“(GUENDOUZI) PLAYED GREAT TODAY”
Regarding the performance of French midfielder Matteo Guendouzi, who was chosen as the best player of the final match and recently joined the team, Tedesco said, “I am very happy to have Matteo with us. It is great to bring him to Istanbul. The timing of bringing him is also very important. It was very important as soon as the January transfer window opened. As I said before, transfers in January are difficult. But the club did a great job. He played great today, as if he had been here for 8 months.”
“WE WILL DO OUR BEST UNTIL THE END”
Regarding the final match being played at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium despite the adverse weather conditions, the coach of the yellow-dark blue team said, “We should not dwell too much on the things we cannot change. We cannot change the weather, and today it was cold and windy. This means a lot to us. It is great to have such fans. When we went to the stadium in Adana, everywhere was full of Fenerbahçe fans. This is an incredible situation for us. I am very happy, I am proud to be the coach of these fans. We will start the league with Alanyaspor, against them. “The match we played was a difficult match at home. We have injured players. We need to find a solution. We are very strong when everyone in the team is fit. We will do our best until the end.”
“THE MAIN PLAN WAS FOR US TO PLAY WITH THE BALL”
When asked what the main plan was in the derby, the Italian coach said, “The main plan was for us to play with the ball. We needed to keep the ball. When you give the ball to Galatasaray, they are a team that knows how to play. They have very strong wing players. Barış is a very high-level player, his runs behind the defense are high. Mert played great against Barış today. Sane had scored a goal against me in every match. I am happy that he did not score a goal today. We defended perfectly as a team in a compact manner. We had to sink back a little bit at some moments. I “We have been working on this since I arrived. Sometimes it is not easy because we are defending at the back. The plan was to help Kerem and Ismail. It was a momentary thing for the third player to come in. If you do not put pressure on the team, these players can be very important. We saw this in the last match against Trabzonspor.”
“THINGS THAT WE HAVE NO INFLUENCE SHOULD NOT BE IN OUR HEADS”
Emphasizing that the team is improving physically day by day, Tedesco said, “The best thing we can do is to focus entirely on the field. Techniques, tactics and training are the best things I can show. Also video analysis and the speeches I give to the team. But not just me. Because we have a very good team. We have three video analysts. They are really great at their jobs. When I go to the facilities in the morning, they are already there. When I leave the facilities, they are still there. We have very good athletic performance coaches. We see that the team is improving and improving much more physically.” “We see that he has improved a lot in terms of running. We also have a great president. He was a little upset because I didn’t tell him that he was very handsome and smart. But now, we are together. Things that we have no influence on should not be in our minds,” he said.
Domenico Tedesco said the following about the game setup in the derby:
“When we defend 4-5-1, Asensio is positioned on the right 8. Today, we wanted to use İsmail in that position. He won the ball a lot. He has continued to do it since the day we arrived. At the same time, Fred’s suspension is over. I don’t know what he did to be suspended for 3 matches. We felt his absence. We have Bartug and Yiğit Efe for this region. This is a good situation for us.”
“IT IS NOT A GOOD SITUATION TO HAVE FEW PLAYERS IN YOUR SQUAD”
Regarding the names that will stay in the team and those that will leave, Tedesco said, “It is not a good situation to have few players in your squad. It is not a good situation to have too many players. Likewise, you need to be fair to the players. Some players deserve to play. They may not get enough time. We need to follow this. We need to analyze which positions we have men in, which positions we have too many players. Time is also important for the player. If the players cannot find a solution outside of this place, this is their home. We need to be with them at all times. If they cannot go, they can continue training.” He concluded his words by saying.