Galatasaray bent on Braga success
Monday, October 1, 2012
Article summary
"Three points are more important than entertaining football," said Fatih Terim as his Galatasaray AŞ side go in search of their first Group H points at home against SC Braga.
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Fatih Terim warned that substance counted for more than style as his Galatasaray AŞ side go in search of their first Group H win at home to SC Braga, who also lost their opening fixture on matchday one but would not be too disappointed with a draw in Istanbul.
Galatasaray
Coach Fatih Terim
A lot of people saw us in the [1-0 defeat] against Manchester United. We played well – in a way which any Galatasaray fan would be proud of – but we dropped three points. Braga also lost to CFR, but people say the result did not reflect the action on the pitch. That's football. Braga need to be taken seriously, for sure. It will be difficult. We need our fans more than ever.
Three points are more important than entertaining football, regardless of how we like to play. We know how we like to play, but we cannot do that in every game. I believe in my players and trust them, but anything can happen at Champions League level. We cannot be at our best all the time. People expect a lot of my players and a defeat [like Friday's 2-0 loss at Orduspor] brings many questions.
We like to press our opponents high up the pitch and we don't intend to change that. That's our style, and while we know teams who play like this can give chances away at the back, we accept that risk.
Weekend result
Friday: Orduspor 2-0 Galatasaray (Hasan Kabze 9, Stancu 67)
Muslera; Eboué, Semih, Cris, Hakan Balta; Hamit Altıntop (Aydın Yılmaz 18), Selçuk İnan, Felipe Melo, Amrabat (Emre Çolak 61); Burak Yılmaz, Elmander (Umut Bulut 63).
• Former Galatasaray forwards Hasan Kabze and Bogdan Stancu scored the goals which inflicted the Istanbul side's first league defeat of the season.
Team news
Terim said that Hamit Altıntop (thigh) "seems to have no chance" of playing, while Johan Elmander is receiving treatment for food poisoning. The coach had planned to reveal his starting XI at his pre-match press conference but could not due to uncertainty over injuries, though he did say "Semih Kaya and Dany [Nounkeu] will be our central defenders".
Braga
Coach José Peseiro
I know that there are a lot of Portuguese players in the Turkish league, and Portuguese coach Carlos Carvalhal is in charge of İstanbul BB SK, but we haven't been asking around for information on Galatasaray. We collected our own data and analysed it. We worked out their strong and weak points. The Galatasaray match is certainly important but we don't see it as a turning point. We tackle our matches one by one. We aim to get a positive result and will look to the third game afterwards.
I watched Galatasaray against Manchester United. They played very well and created plenty of chances to score. I believe we'll push ourselves to the limit. We won't play for a draw, but bearing in mind the atmosphere, one point would not be bad for a visiting team [here].
Weekend result
Friday: Vitória SC 0-2 Braga (Éder 55, Viana 86)
Beto; Baiano, Paulo Vinícius, Douglão, Elderson; Custódio, Viana (Djamal 89), Alan, Mossoró (Ruben Micael 65), Barbosa; Éder (Michel 89).
• Braga registered their first Minho derby victory in Guimaraes since the 2005/06 season.
Team news
Carlão missed the trip to Istanbul because of a left thigh injury, while Peseiro has also chosen not to bring Elderson for tactical reasons.
Match fact
Galatasaray boss Terim suffered a 2-0 UEFA EURO 2008 group stage defeat by Portugal as coach of a Turkey team that included Hakan Balta, Sabri and Altıntop.
