Photo courtesy of Fenerbahce’s official Facebook page
Fenerbahce played out a 1-1 draw in Austria against Red Bull Salzburg in the first leg of the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League.
The first half of the match belonged to the home side as they not only scored their goal, but dominated the majority of attacks. Fener had trouble getting past the defense both through the middle and down the wing, and their passing game overall was worse than anticipated.
The second half brought out a much more determined side as the Turks finally began to break down their opponents all over the field. Sure, it took a last-minute penalty kick to salvage a draw, but that is all they truly needed from a first leg away from home. Now they simply have to finish the job at home next week in Istanbul inside their beloved Sukru Saracoglu stadium.
At home, the canaries (Fenerbahce) have to be awake from the first minute until the very last.
They took the first half of the game lightly from the offensive perspective and as we all know, games can not be won like that … unless the other team is about to score an own goal or more (most likely not).
The fire power is there in Moussa Sow, Dirk Kuyt and Caner Erkin, while the defensive end is rock-solid with Bruno Alves and Joseph Yobo being the heart of that back block. Gokhan Gonul runs the right wing from the defensive end all the way to the final third while Michael Kadlec does the same for the left.
This team does have talent and is good enough to play with the big boys, which is why they simply have to defeat this Austrian team. There should be no problems in Istanbul.
If by some slight chance they end up losing this series and do not make the playoff round of the Champions League, head coach Ersun Yanal will be in hot water as will his players, who do work extremely well together. Salzburg is good, but shouldn’t be able to defeat a Turkish powerhouse of a soccer club.
