Tight-lipped Terim gives Galatasaray focus

Famed as one of the most passionate coaches in the game, it was Fatih Terim's silence that prompted the desired response from his Galatasaray AŞ players who turned a first-half deficit against SC Braga into a victory that earned a place in the UEFA Champions League last 16. Burak Yılmaz, Felipe Melo and Emmanuel Eboué all spoke to UEFA.com after a night of celebration for the Turkish champions. 

Burak Yılmaz, Galatasaray forward
We didn't start well in the first half. Afterwards, when we heard the latest score [between Manchester United and CFR Cluj], we understood that we needed to change our attitude if we wanted to qualify. It's when our coach [Fatih Terim] is quiet that it's dangerous for us. When he is like that we all understand and he doesn't need to say too much. We understand just by the way he looks at us. From that point we managed to turn things around and thankfully we won the three points that got us through, which we deserved.

My best memory from the group stage was our game at home against Manchester United. There was a great atmosphere inside the stadium and I managed to score [the winning goal]; I will never forget that. I don't have a target to be the top scorer in the tournament. The most important thing for me is that I help my team to score goals. Our main aim was to qualify for the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League and we have done that.

Let's see who we get in the draw. Of course there are some teams who, in our hearts, we want to play and others who we don't want to play in the next round. I don't want to share that with you now, I'd prefer to keep it a secret. We need to celebrate what we have achieved tonight; we will focus on the next round later on. I would also like to thank our fans as they never allow us to feel alone. They are always singing and I hope we will have some more days of success together in the future.       

Felipe Melo, Galatasaray midfielder
To be brutally honest, we were counting on at least a draw between Manchester United and CFR Cluj so you can imagine how worried we were when we found out that CFR were winning at Old Trafford. Our main problem in the first half had to do with the fact that we mentally started as though we had already qualified because of how the standings looked. We were thinking about a draw. Braga then managed to score and that made things even harder for us. Our coach made two changes at half time and that made all the difference as the players who came on are very fast in wide areas. We pressed our opponents more and that allowed us to mount a comeback.

Emmanuel Eboué, Galatasaray defender
When you talk about a team it is not just the players, it is the staff and the supporters too and we are so happy for them tonight. That wasn't an easy game at all but we pulled together in the second half and managed to do well in the end. I was surprised by our coach at half-time as I know he normally likes to shout but this time he was very quiet in the dressing room. We knew then that we had to give our absolute all after the break. 

Custódio, Braga midfielder
We had another great match tonight and played really well in the first half when we had several chances to score. Sadly we only managed to find the net once. In the second half they had two opportunities and scored on both occasions. This is the UEFA Champions League and you get punished for your mistakes, and that has been the story of our entire campaign. We have made errors in almost every match and we've ultimately paid the price.

I think we played offensive and attractive football throughout the group stages but that didn't bring us any rewards. I don't think our exit has anything to do with lack of experience because we have a very experienced team. Mistakes led to our five defeats in the group. There's no point complaining; we must keep working hard in order to improve as we want to return to this tournament next season.