Furious after 2:3 against YB Gala coach accuses German referee of being biased
YB beat Galatasaray Istanbul 3:2 in the first leg of the Champions League play-offs in a sold-out Wankdorf. The Turkish coach is furious about the referee's choice after the game.
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- YB beat Galatasaray Istanbul 3:2 in the first leg of the Champions League play-offs.
- Filip Ugrinic scores the 3:2 with a penalty, which YB is awarded after VAR intervention for a handball.
- The suspended Gala coach Okan Buruk rages after the game. For him, it was a clearly wrong decision and he sensed a conspiracy, as in his opinion a referee from Germany should never have been used.
In the 82nd minute, Cedric Itten lays the ball off with his heel to Darian Males, who shoots from five meters and sees his shot cleared for a corner. The VAR intervenes and sends referee Daniel Siebert to the screen. The 40-year-old German sees a handball, decides on a penalty and sends Gala defender Abdülkerim Bardakci to the showers with a yellow-red card. Filip Ugrinic then converted the penalty to make the final score 3:2.
Gala coach Okan Buruk was fuming after the match. "If that's a penalty, then I think we have to tie the players' arms." In any case, the choice of referee is a thorn in the side of the 50-year-old: "We're playing in Switzerland and then a German comes in. It's like an extended canton," said Buruk after the game.
Siebert probably arrived by car, Buruk speculated, adding: "Can they use an Azerbaijani referee for a Turkish match? No, they can't," Buruk answers his rhetorical question himself. "I don't understand that. I hope they use an Azerbaijani referee for the second game so that we can equalize!"
Gala coach sits in the stands for the second leg
As in Bern, Buruk will not be on the bench for the second leg in Istanbul. The Turk was banned for two international matches at the end of February for unsportsmanlike conduct in the second leg of the Europa League second round in Prague. "I'll be in the stands next to our fans. They will help us to get a positive result," Buruk announced after the first leg defeat.
The fact that the whistle remained silent in stoppage time after a foul on YB striker Meschack Elia, much to the incomprehension of experts Kubilay Türkyilmaz and Marcel Reif, does not affect Buruk's overall assessment.
