Okan Buruk: Early goals in the second half broke us away

'WE PLAYED AGAINST A VERY GOOD TEAM'

Drawing attention to Barcelona's quality, Buruk said, "We did good work in certain minutes, we could have done better. However, there are two important points. First, we played against a very good team. 8 players in the first 11 of this team are players of the champion Spanish National Team. They are really mechanized players who have memorized each other. It is not easy to play against them. It is very difficult for them to make turnovers. The second is our situation. Our injured players have slowly returned. We are in a new process with our new transfers. Some of our players played together for the first time. "We need to get to know each other better. This is a process that takes time. Doing well in certain minutes against such a strong team shows that we can do better in the next matches," he said.

'WE SHOWED THAT WE ARE A TEAM SUITABLE FOR THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE'

Congratulating his opponents, Okan Buruk said, "I congratulate our opponent. It was a clean and good match. We are sorry for losing. However, we showed at certain moments that both the country's football and Turkish football can do better in Europe in terms of play. We could not show this in terms of scores, but we showed that we are a team worthy of the Champions League with both the stadium atmosphere and the atmosphere created by our fans."

'THINKING BACK, WE COULD NOT MANAGE THE GAME WELL'

Emphasizing that they should not give up on the game after falling behind in terms of scores, Buruk said, "You may fall behind 2-1, 2-0 or 3-1 during the match. However, you have to continue playing the same way after that. This is very important for a team. This is one of the issues we need to fix. We experienced a similar scenario in the Lisbon match. Our opponent came once in the first half and we conceded a goal. In the second half, when the score was 2-1, then 3-1, we fell out of the game again. We need to fix this. In fact, on the field We have very experienced players. Not only the coach but also the players' interventions in the game are very important. They need to approach their teammates and fire them up again. If we could have scored our second goal today, I think we acted too hastily. Barcelona may have been putting pressure on us, but we did not need to play long balls. Sometimes we used unnecessary long balls. Our runs behind the defense could have put us in a better position to score. "We analyze the opponent before the match and explain everything to our players. However, while the match is being played, the players need to read the game correctly on the field. We did this in certain sections, but we failed after falling behind."

'I AM SATISFIED WITH LEAO'S PERFORMANCE'

Evaluating the performances of Rafael Leao and Leroy Sane, Okan Buruk said, "I think Leao played well today. He did not play a very bad match. He was diligent, took one-on-one positions and assisted the goal. He also helped the defense more while playing against such a good team. He especially fulfilled his duties in defense well. He tried to do his best today. It is not easy, he is also going through a process, but I am happy with his performance today. Leroy Sane came into the game after 3-1. He "We were out of the game as a team in the second half. That's why we shouldn't take this match as a measure to evaluate Sane. We have great confidence in both of them. They are very important players and they are doing their best to contribute to the team. I am 100 percent confident that they will perform better."

'I AM VERY SATISFIED WITH DENİZ, HE COULD BE A GOOD CENTER FOR TURKISH FOOTBALL'

Speaking about the player changes, Okan Buruk said, "There was fatigue, especially in our midfield players. Lemina was missing a match. Batrakov also said that he started to get tired at half-time. When the score was 3-1, we brought Lesley next to Lucas to increase our resistance in the midfield. Because the opponent was starting to come very easily in that department. Barış was also playing with pain. I did not want to risk him any more and made our fourth change. Finally, when Lucas left the game, we made our fifth change with Naga. That is why we brought Deniz in today. "We couldn't play him and Osimhen stayed on the field for 90 minutes. However, I am very pleased with Deniz and his performance. He will make important contributions to us. If we can develop him, he will be a very good center forward for Turkish football."