Galatasaray Head Coach Blasts Ref After UCL Loss

Galatasaray head coach Okan Buruk criticized the referee after his side’s 3-1 Champions League defeat to Sporting CP in Lisbon, arguing that key decisions had a direct impact on the result. Sporting came from behind after Galatasaray took an early lead, with Luis Suárez’s penalty putting the hosts 2-1 ahead before Rodrigo Zalazar sealed the win.

Buruk felt Galatasaray had been in complete control during the opening 45 minutes.

Reacting after the match in a post on the club’s X handle on Wednesday, he said, “We actually played a very comfortable first half,” Buruk said. “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.”

Despite dominating possession, Galatasaray conceded an equaliser from one of Sporting’s few attacks.

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

The turning point came early in the second half when Sporting were awarded a penalty after a VAR review. Suárez converted from the spot to put the Portuguese side ahead.

Buruk strongly questioned the decision, particularly given the level of the competition.

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

The Galatasaray boss also criticised the Norwegian referee, referring to a previous experience 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 argued that two decisions, a red card he believed should have been shown in the first half and the penalty awarded to Sporting, directly affected the outcome.

“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.

According to Buruk, the penalty also had a major psychological impact on his players.

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