Eliminate Barcelona!

Big teams are proud of the trophies they won, and small teams are proud of the big teams they have beaten.

Michel Platini

I have not the slightest doubt about the accuracy of this statement. I have taken this word as an example in my sports conversations and have always defended its truth.

I am an ardent Galatasaray supporter, although my place of residence is far from the home of Galatasaray, I regularly go to both the matches and the training facilities.

First of all, let's take a look at the score table of Galatasaray's Super League performance this year, after a short description.

He is 11th in the standings with 10 wins and 8 draws in 29 matches. He has 38 points and the situation is not very encouraging.

This has a lot of off-field effects, but that's not the point. Let me state that there is a rejuvenation operation in the team that started with the transfer period this year, and most of the players in the team are between the ages of 19 and 23.

Galatasaray is currently rivaling Barcelona in the last 16 rounds of the UEFA Cup. The first match played in Barcelona's Camp Nou stadium on Thursday, March 10, ended in a goalless draw and tomorrow (March 17) they will go to the Nef stadium for the second match.

I have enough football experience to know that the favorite side is Barcelona, but I know that there are always surprising results in sports, especially football. Moreover, Galatasaray matched with Barcelona before and defeated its opponent many times.

We know the different effects of the poor performance this year, we are also aware that the most important factors are off the field, but the whole community is stuck in this match with its fans.

We will welcome Barcelona with the crazy support of 50 thousand fans. I guess those who followed the games in previous years will know what kind of supporter power Galatasaray has. Moreover, despite the poor performance this year, Lazio - Marseille - L.Moscow left without conceding a goal in the group matches of the UEFA Cup and still did not concede a goal away from Barcelona.

Due to the long-term injury of our main goalkeeper Muslera, we hired Pena from Barcelona at half-time until the end of the year and we will go out with him in the second match, as we did in the first game.

We are aware that our job is difficult and that the favorite side will be Barcelona despite everything. In the previous round, Barcelona beat their opponent (Naples) 1-4 on the road, 1 - 1 on their own field, and passed the round… but we are not Napoli and there will be a big difference between their support and our support.

Barcelona will face one of the hardest away games it has ever seen during the entire cup.

I'll suspend the Platini promise I started with for once, and if we succeed, I'll just brag about knocking out Barcelona. Total successes are always more important than short and local successes, but it should not be forgotten that after this round is the quarter-finals.

I consider every team that passes this round to have an equal chance of winning the UEFA Cup. The result does not change whether it is Galatasaray or Barcelona passing the round.

As fans, we will do our best to pass the round in 90 minutes, maybe with overtime and maybe penalties, and eliminate Barcelona. I hope that the early goal will not affect the morale of the young players on the field too much and they can continue to concentrate at every moment of the match by preserving their calmness and cold-blooded interventions in the first match.

I must say that I am more afraid of the lack of experience in young players than the opponent. If you are planning to watch the match, I suggest you watch Kerem Aktürkoğlu from a different perspective. The 22-year-old player will be our biggest expectation in terms of offense.

I am a supporter of Galatasaray and Galatasaray for the match between Galatasaray and Barcelona.

Thank you for reading!

Stay healthy and friendly!