Galatasaray coach criticizes referee after Champions League loss

Galatasaray head coach Okan Buruk slammed the referee after his team lost 3-1 to Sporting CP in the Champions League in Lisbon. He believes some key decisions changed the game. Galatasaray started strong but Sporting fought back. Luis Suárez's penalty gave the home team a 2-1 lead before Rodrigo Zalazar scored to secure the win.

Buruk thought Galatasaray played well in the first half. He felt they controlled the game completely.

After the match, he posted on the club’s X handle on Wednesday. He said, “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.”

Even with strong possession, Galatasaray allowed an equalizer from one of Sporting’s few chances.

“They only had one chance, one shot at our goal, and that ended up being a goal,” Buruk said.

The game changed early in the second half when Sporting got a penalty after a VAR check. Suárez scored from the spot, putting the Portuguese team ahead.

Buruk questioned this decision strongly, especially for a match of this level.

“Of course, at this level, to give a penalty like that in the Champions League is simply not acceptable,” he said.

He also took aim at the Norwegian referee, recalling an earlier match with him in Istanbul.

“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 pointed out that two key decisions affected the match. He felt a red card should have been given in the first half, and the penalty awarded to Sporting also changed the game.

“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 said.

Buruk mentioned that the penalty had a big psychological effect on his players.

“That caused our team to drop significantly, especially after we went 2, 1 down,” he said.

Sporting went on to win 3-1, starting their Champions League campaign with three points.