Fenerbahçe 1-3 Galatasaray
José Mourinho’s Fenerbahçe suffered a painful defeat at home to Galatasaray in the Portuguese coach’s first taste of an Istanbul derby on Saturday evening.
Although the match was evenly contested for the most part, the visitors scored twice in the first half to take a strong advantage into the break and see the game through. Galatasaray remain at 100% this season and continue to be many observers’ strong favourites to retain their Super Lig title.
The historic rivals contested a remarkable league title race last season which saw Fener miss out in 2nd place despite amassing a 99-point haul. Champions Galatasaray came into Saturday’s clash boasting a 100% start, while Mourinho’s men had taken 13 points from their opening five matches following his appointment in the summer.
Fener threatened strongly in the early stages but the crucial first goal came in the 20th minute when Gala midfielder Lucas Torreira struck a sweet volley from outside the box which beat Dominik Livaković after hitting the inside of the post. Veteran forward Dries Mertens doubled the advantage from Osimhen's lay-off (28') and Gabriel Sara’s third close to the hour made it a long road back for Mourinho’s side, who secured a consolation through Edin Dzeko’s penalty.
By the end, Fenerbahçe came out on top in possession (56-44), shots on goal (24-13), corners (10-2) as well as passes made, tackles, dribbles and many other metrics. However, as Mourinho conducted his post-match interview, the former Porto boss was forced to admit the only stat that matters went in the oppositions’ favour.
“It will seem like a stupid answer, but they won because they scored more goals than us,” Mourinho said. “The team that scored more goals won. This is the pragmatism of football. Because it doesn’t matter how well we started the match, how many chances we created during the match, how much we dominated.
“We conceded the first goal from nothing. There was nothing. It was a throw-in. If I remember correctly, the defender entered the penalty area and we missed his move. Then the goal came with the second ball and shot. Then we returned to the match, but it doesn’t matter how many positions we created, how many positions we missed. It doesn’t matter that we risked everything after 3-1. It doesn’t matter that we missed so many positions.
“The only important thing is that they scored 3 goals today, we scored 1 and today we only converted our shot from the penalty spot. That's my answer. Pragmatically speaking, the one who scores more goals wins.
“Bad substitutions? I've been in football long enough. I have enough experience to know that when you lose and the players who come into the game don't do what you want, these kinds of question marks arise. But that's football. I think Amrabat had a very good second half as a defender. Actually, I think he played great as a fake, hybrid defender. He also provided the fluidity that was missing in the first half for us.
“Similarly, Irfan and En-Nesyri did their best when they came in. Of course, I would have liked them to do more. Nesyri had incredible chances today but couldn't score. Similarly, we created a position like the one created by Osimhen and Mertens, winning the second ball with a header and playing to the third man. It could have been an easy position. Of course, it wasn't a happy match for him, but I can't accept the blame for those who came in later.
“Maximin also had a lot of chances today. But I repeat, our opponent scored from two throw-ins. This is not their fault, it is our fault. Actually, we started the match well. Our opponent started more cautiously and with more experience. They tried to prevent our dominance. Szymanski had a shot, we can say it was half a goal. Szymanski normally converts those chances into goals. He didn’t even need to shoot. It would have been enough to roll the ball into the goal.
“We conceded goals from two throw-ins. We made a few mistakes in defence today. Our opponent made a lot of mistakes due to our play, but we couldn’t score. This is the story of the match. I don’t think our opponent is better than us, but of course I congratulate them for getting 3 points.”
Great 10-minute highlights video for the match here:
By @SeanGillen9
