With their president complaining about “an occult network” working against his club, Fenerbahce face Galatasaray on Sunday in an Istanbul derby that they must win to keep alive their hopes of a first Turkish title in a decade .
With two games to go, despite a record-breaking season, Fenerbahce are six points behind their arch-rivals, who are playing in front of a passionate home crowd and need just one point to secure the title.
“Mathematically speaking, we are still in the race. We will win the two remaining games and see what the result is in the end,” said Ismail Kartal, coach of the Canaries.
The end of the championship has a bitter aftertaste for Fenerbahce, who have already achieved their best ever Super Lig points tally with 93 points. They only lost once and were top of the league for most of the season, but Galatasaray won 17 games in a row to advance.
In December, the two teams drew 0-0 at Fenerbahce.
Experienced Bosnian Edin Dzeko has scored 20 goals for Fenerbahce, making him the Super Lig’s second top scorer – behind Argentine striker Mauro Icardi, who scored 23 for Galatasaray.
The two clubs have won the most Turkish titles. Fenerbahce, from the Asian side of the Bosphorus, can claim the most titles with 28, but since the Süper Lig began in 1959, Galatasaray leads 23 to 19. The Lions have won four of these titles since Fenerbahce’s last title in 2014 was runner-up four times this decade.
Its president, Ali Koc, says too many titles have “eluded” his club in dubious ways. He denounced “an occult network in Turkish football that decides the course of the championship through the referees.”
Koc threatened to withdraw his team from the Super Lig. In April, Fenerbahce sent their U19 team against Galatasaray in the Turkish Super Cup. After three minutes the team left the field.
“It is time for a restart of Turkish football,” Koc said at a press conference at the time.
To restore calm, the Turkish Football Association has since appointed foreign video assistant referees for all major matches.
Koc is not convinced.
“The association has a strange relationship with Galatasaray,” he said again at the beginning of May.
The name of the foreign VAR official for the heated Istanbul derby will only be announced a few hours before the game, which is scheduled to take place at 7:00 p.m. (1600 GMT) on Sunday.
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