By: Odeh Favour Adiya
Galatasaray head coach Okan Buruk has heavily criticized the referee following his side’s 3-1 Champions League defeat against Sporting CP in Lisbon, insisting that key officiating calls directly determined the outcome of the match.
The Turkish side took an early lead and looked in full charge, but the hosts fought back with Luis Suárez converting a penalty to make it 2-1 before Rodrigo Zalazar made sure of the win.
Buruk maintained that his team had complete grip on the game during the opening 45 minutes.
Speaking after the match via a post on the club’s official X handle on Wednesday, he noted, “We actually played a very comfortable first half. Our opponents couldn’t get anywhere near our goal. The chances we created, our possession, the way we pinned them back in their own half… Everything was going very well.”
Despite dominant possession from Galatasaray, Sporting found an equalizer against the run of play.
The manager did not hold back his anger over the spot-kick awarded to the home team.
“Of course, at this level, to give a penalty like that in the Champions League is simply not acceptable,” he stated.
The Galatasaray gaffer also slammed the Norwegian referee, pointing out a past history with the official.
“We complain about refereeing in Turkey, don’t we? Well, today we saw the Norwegian referee here as well,” Buruk said. “We had already had an experience with him in Istanbul before.”
Buruk singled out two major decisions an unissued red card in the first half and the questionable penalty as the turning points of the clash.
“Today, the red card he failed to give in the first half and the penalty he awarded when there was no penalty directly affected the score,” he added.
He further explained how the officiating dealt a psychological blow to his players.
“That caused our team to drop significantly, especially after we went 2-1 down,” he revealed.
Sporting ultimately finished off the comeback with a 3-1 victory to kick off their Champions League campaign with all three points.
