Galatasaray set to complain to UEFA, Sporting accused: played with 12 | OneFootball

Sporting’s 3-1 victory over Galatasaray continues to spark strong backlash in Turkey. Nihat Kahveci, a former Turkish international, slammed referee Espen Eskas and even went so far as to say that the Lions “played with 12” in the second half.

In comments reported by the newspaper ‘Fanatik’, the former player first praised Galatasaray’s first half, but completely changed his tone when analyzing the penalty converted by Luis Suárez. “Why would I know that Sporting was going to hire a Norwegian referee? In the second half, they played with 12. I don’t want to offend anyone, but is this a penalty? It isn’t.”

Kahveci insisted that Jakobs touched the ball first and believed it was Luis Suárez who ended up making contact with the opponent. “Tell me this: why is it a penalty? Was it Ugurcan who touched it? Was it Jakobs who touched it? In my opinion, Jakobs touches the ball. Suárez hits the lower part of Jakobs’ leg.”

The backlash does not stop with the former international’s comments. Galatasaray are preparing a formal complaint to UEFA over the performance of the refereeing team, arguing that they were harmed in several incidents, including the penalty and a possible red card that should have been shown to Sergi Altimira.

Okan Buruk had also made harsh criticism after the match at Alvalade. The Turkish coach said that “VAR was not here” and argued that the penalty was decisive in changing the course of the game, although he made a point of separating Rui Borges’ team’s performance from the refereeing decisions.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.