ISTANBUL
Two great clubs from Istanbul, Fenerbahce Y Galatasaray, hopes to get his campaign back on track in the Turkish Super Lig with new coaches.
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Fenerbahçe, which had run out trainer since Vitor Pereira was sacked a month ago, he signed İsmail Kartal earlier this week, while Galatasaray replaced club legend Fatih Terim with Domenec Torrent.
It will be the second spell for the former Kartal club player at Fenerbahçe, having coached the team for one season before resigning on May 30, 2015.
His first test comes against Antalyaspor in an away match on January 15, with the manager determined to make an immediate impact.
“No Fenerbahçe fan accepts the current situation,” he said before his first training session with the team on January 12.
“But here we have a group of players who can turn everything around. I know and I can see it."
Fenerbahçe have won nine of their 20 league games so far, losing six. They are currently in fifth place with 32 points, 17 points behind league leaders Trabzonspor.
“To do things well, to achieve success, first you will respect each other and then we will respect each other,” Kartal told his players.
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“And then we must work hard believing in each other, trusting and loving each other. We must make our opponents feel the spirit of Fenerbahçe, our unity and strength, and our great confidence in ourselves in every match. We must make the opponent feel this enthusiasm, this energy, our unity, our hunger to win a match. When we provide this, the results we want will come automatically."
Galatasaray, meanwhile, is undergoing a major transformation after the departure of experienced coach Terim.
Terim's fourth spell at the club, with which he has won eight Turkish league titles since first taking charge in 1996 and led to the UEFA Cup in 2000, was succeeded by Spain's Domenec Torrent.
Torrent worked as Pep Guardiola's assistant for 11 years between 2007 and 2018, winning 24 trophies with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City during that time.
He was hired as the head coach of Major League Soccer's New York City FC in June 2018 and remained with the team until November 2019.
He also spent three months at Brazilian club Flamengo before being sacked in November 2020.
Galatasaray president Burak Elmas said his administration had planned to bring in Torrent as Terim's assistant before things went south.
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"We had talked to Terim about the names that could replace him if he was appointed at a higher level," Elmas told reporters at a news conference.
“And we had talked to Torrent about the assistant position. We interviewed some names that could benefit Galatasaray in the long term. We believe that the most appropriate name is Torrent. I think it will bring great advantages to Galatasaray”.
Galatasaray have performed poorly in the Süper Lig so far, sitting 12th in the standings with 27 points from 20 games, having won just seven.
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Domenec's first test with his new club comes against Hatayspor in an away game on January 16.
League leaders Trabzonspor will be looking to extend their glorious run when they visit Sivasspor on January 15, while second-placed Konyaspor's match in Başakşehir was postponed following the death of Konyaspor player Ahmet Çalık in an accident of traffic on January 12.
