Istanbul Başakşehir will host the Belgian team Gent at Başakşehir Fatih Terim Stadium tomorrow at 20:00 CET in the UEFA European Conference League Round of 16 return match. Head coach Emre Belözoğlu and football player Berkay Özcan made statements at the press conference held before the return match in Başakşehir, which drew 1-1 with its opponent on the road in the first match.
Emphasizing that they will play the most important game in the club’s history, Belözoğlu said, “None of our players have a quarter final, except Adnan Januzaj. We will play such a game twice. We will play the most important game in our history. We prepared well for our opponent. We have some problems and injuries. With his support and prayer, we want to fulfill the realities of football and reach the quarter-finals,” he said.
“THE WORLD CUP AND EARTHQUAKE DISASTER HAS A PSYCHOLOGICAL NEGATIVE IMPACT ON THE PLAYERS”
When asked about the fluctuations in the team’s performance, Belözoğlu said, “If we look at the general picture, we are doing important things. There are fluctuations in the team. There are outgoing and incoming players. In regular seasons, it happens 2-3 times between the national team. Between the World Cup and the earthquake disaster, the players are psychologically negative. “We were the winners of the game, including the matches we lost. I think the scores will come. This game has brought us to these days. I think these losses are sometimes due to our performance and sometimes to external factors.”
“EVERYONE CAN USE THE WORD ROTATION BUT I HAVE 24-25 EQUAL PLAYERS”
Reminding that he changed a lot of players from match to match in the first 11 since the beginning of the season, Belözoğlu said, “We gave great importance to the Beşiktaş match. The league is important to us. Considering that we played a match under difficult conditions two days before the Beşiktaş match, we also played our best 11 for Beşiktaş match whenever possible. “Everybody can use the word rotation, but I have 24-25 equivalent players. Tomorrow, we will form a starting 11 composed of players who played in the Beşiktaş match and were a little more rested. It will be an important match for both the Turkish and the club’s history. I think we will overcome it,” he said. .
When asked about his goals in the organization if Başakşehir eliminated Gent, Belözoğlu said:
“My statements are usually interesting and assertive. The team against us is a resilient and well-established team. Our performance may have shown us ahead of this team, but we will play against an important team. Hopefully, we will be the winner and think about the future. We cannot think ahead until we win tomorrow.”
“IF THE QUARTER FINAL IS OPEN, I WILL AIM TO CARRY IT FURTHER”
Stating that they will not be content with this if they make it to the quarter-finals, the young coach said, “Quarter-finals, semi-finals and even the finals have been very fortunate in my football career, but it is not easy to play as a coach. I love being a coach. I am happy when the team shows the game I want to play on the field. I am a coach in our country. It is very difficult. If we face him in the quarter-finals, I will not see this as enough and I will aim to carry it forward,” he said.
“Isn’t the insults against my wife and mother in the presence of 2 of my daughters not violence against women?”
Belözoğlu also clarified the issue after the statements he made at the press conference after the black-and-white fans cursed his wife and mother during the Beşiktaş match they played in the league at the weekend. Belözoğlu stated that the curses against his wife and mother should be spoken in the presence of his 2 daughters, and said, “I am still not calm. What I needed to talk about was that my two daughters and my wife were cursed at 25 meters away from my wife and my mother for 35 minutes. What I said about my own wife and mother, I can’t understand why he’s coming back to his past relationships.
Let me tell you this sincerely, Beşiktaş has a very beautiful motto: ‘Play with your honor, win with your right’. It was my honor. Does it suit that motto, these insults? Isn’t that violence against women? When we talk, let’s talk from our heart, not our stomach. I give an account of a feeling that I do not feel to Allah alone. Are the things that a woman has experienced in her past that will determine a woman’s honor or dishonor? What mentality that accepts this is not a nonsense mentality? The examples I gave through my own mother and my wife, how people connected to the things they lived in the past, I can’t make this connection. When a woman on the street opens this news and reads this for the first time, it is natural that her ideas about me are like this, and I find it natural, but let’s see how the process unfolds. No one should leave the scales of conscience,” he said.
BERKAY ÖZCAN: I THINK WE WILL GET A BETTER RESULT TOMORROW
Stating that they will play the pass game better tomorrow, Istanbul Başakşehir’s national player Berkay Özcan said, “The second half of the match there, the field conditions were tough. The first half was better and we could have played a better pass game in the first half. We can say that we left with a good result. Tomorrow will be better. I think.
“I FEEL GOOD IN THE NUMBER 8 POSITION”
Stating that he started to contribute more to goals with Emre Belözoğlu, Özcan said, “It is a very important game for me too. I want to improve myself. I started scoring more goals this year. I want to continue this, I am aiming to learn new things. I am 25 years old now. “You can learn something at any age. I will do my best to contribute to the team. I feel good at number 8. I can say that my current position is the position I feel most comfortable in.”
Stating that Turkish teams should be in the Champions League, the national player said, “When you look at our teams, we achieved good results in this organization. Our goals should be the Champions League, but not everyone can play in that lane. The goal of the teams that cannot play in the Champions League should be the final in the Conference League. ‘ he concluded.