Galatasaray head coach Okan Buruk has questioned the referee’s decisions after his side suffered a 3-1 defeat to Sporting CP in their Champions League clash in Lisbon.
Galatasaray took an early lead but Sporting overturned the deficit, with Luis Suárez converting a penalty to put the Portuguese side ahead before Rodrigo Zalazar completed the comeback.
Buruk said Galatasaray had been firmly in control during the first half and believed his team’s performance should have put them in a stronger position at the break.
“We actually played a very comfortable first half,” Buruk said in comments shared on Galatasaray’s X account on Wednesday.
“Our opponents couldn’t get anywhere near our goal. The chances we created, our possession, the way we pinned them back in their own half… Everything was going very well.”
Despite Galatasaray’s dominance, Sporting found an equaliser from one of their limited opportunities before the hosts were awarded a penalty shortly after the restart following a VAR review.
Suárez stepped up and converted the spot-kick to give Sporting a 2-1 advantage.
Buruk strongly disagreed with the decision and questioned whether such a penalty should have been awarded in a Champions League match.
“Of course, at this level, to give a penalty like that in the Champions League is simply not acceptable,” he said.
Buruk Questions Referee’s Key Decisions
The Galatasaray manager also expressed frustration with the Norwegian referee, noting that he had previously encountered the official during a match in Istanbul.
“We complain about refereeing in Turkey, don’t we? Well, today we saw the Norwegian referee here as well,” Buruk said.
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“We had already had an experience with him in Istanbul before.”
Buruk identified two decisions that he believed significantly influenced the outcome: a first-half incident where he felt Sporting should have received a red card and the penalty awarded to the hosts after VAR intervention.
“Today, the red card he failed to give in the first half and the penalty he awarded when there was no penalty directly affected the score,” the Galatasaray coach said.
He also argued that the penalty had an immediate psychological effect on his players, particularly after Sporting moved into a 2-1 lead.
“That caused our team to drop significantly, especially after we went 2–1 down,” Buruk added.
Sporting went on to add a third goal through Zalazar, securing a 3-1 victory and opening their Champions League campaign with three points.
Galatasaray will now have to regroup from the defeat as they continue their European campaign, while Buruk’s comments are likely to keep the focus on the officiating decisions that he believes changed the direction of the match.