Photo courtesy of Fenerbahce’s official Twitter page
Fenerbahce convincingly beat a Red Bull Salzburg side who were resilient at home, taking the road victory in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League. Now, they have to play in a playoff series against a tougher opponent that will want to make the group stage just as much as they do — if not even more.
The goals that were scored in this game were a bit fortunate, but they were nothing short of sensational for the most part.
Moussa Sow, Pierre Webo and Raul Meireles were the men who gloriously hit the back of the net. Those three men and the rest of the Fener squad will all have to play at the top of their game in both legs in order to advance against teams such as Arsenal, AC Milan and PSV Eindhoven, who have all torn this side apart in recent years.
The competition grows tougher every single year and on top of that, the Istanbul giants will definitely be the underdogs against any one of these three teams. Revenge is one thing, but the main idea is to make it through to the group stage.
Coach Ersun Yanal definitely has his work cut out for him as the team will have to play balanced soccer. The defense has to be ready at all times, and the attack has to do its job as close to perfection as possible. The squad he has at hand is talented, but his newest acquisition can only boost the team’s performance — new striker Emmanuel Emenike.
The Nigerian international won the golden boot award at AFCON 2013 as his nation lifted the trophy. He will be joining his nation’s captain Joseph Yobo at Fener with their combined experience set to lift this team to newer heights.
With that said, this team has a lot of work to do before playing their next European match. Before that, they will face Galatasaray this Sunday in the Turkish Super Cup. This match will be a good warm-up for the UCL matches, as well as the new Super League season.
