In the mixed zone of the Estádio da Luz shortly after Fenerbahçe had played the second leg of their Europa League semi-final against Benfica, a disconsolate Reto Ziegler didn’t hide his emotions from reporters.
“We’re all sad,” he said. “It’s not easy to talk about it.” Fenerbahçe had lost 3-1 on the night and there was considerable regret. “We played two high level matches but we paid for hitting the woodwork three times in the first leg,” Ziegler added.
What if Moussa Sow’s header had gone in off the bar rather than up and over it back in Kadıköy a week earlier? Or Cristian Baroni had converted his penalty instead of striking the post before half-time? And how about that chance for Dirk Kuyt too that came back off the frame of the goal?
These are the questions Fenerbahçe supporters continue to ask themselves. The tie should have been over there and then. They should have been out of sight. Instead, all that separated them from Benfica was an Egemen Korkmaz goal. It wasn’t enough.
After reaching the club’s first-ever European semi-final in their 106-year history, hopes of winning the competition like Galatasaray had done in its forerunner in 2000 were gone. Their rivals would still have that over them—a major continental trophy that, as they never hesitate to remind Fenerbahçe, they followed up with the Super Cup by beating Real Madrid later that year.
On their return from Lisbon, disappointment, you might say, turned to despair. A 2-0 defeat to Istanbul BB, understandable perhaps after the physical and mental toll of playing in the Europa League only three days earlier, afforded Galatasaray the chance to retain their Süper Lig title, which they did with a resounding 4-2 win against Sivasspor.
Selçuk İnan, one of those wonderful playmakers whose talent deserves recognition beyond the Bosphorus, opened the scoring with a right-footed free-kick pitched up and over the wall. A little while later he got himself a second which, as a moment, will become one of those that defines this season in Turkey.
Read the rest of this entry »
