A former Real Madrid star who is now a manager had to protect a referee from being attacked by his own players during a recent league match. Check out the incident here!
The Super Lig fixture between Antalyaspor and Fenerbahce on Tuesday was rife with controversy following some questionable calls by referee Kadir Saglam, with the latter eventually walking away with a 2-1 win.
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One of those decisions was an offside call that resulted in Antalyaspor being denied an equaliser that could have pushed them further away from the relegation zone, with the team currently just outside of it only because of a better goal difference than Hatayspor.
Once the final whistle was blown, a number of Antalyaspor players rushed to match official Saglam in a fit of rage.
With his players marching towards the referee, Antalyaspor manager Nuri Sahin, formerly of Los Blancos, Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund, had to leap to the referee's defence and stop his players from harming the match official, shielding him with his arms extended out wide.
???? When Antalyaspor manager Nuri Sahin protects the referees... from his own players! ?? Not something you see every day. ?? @beinsports_FRpic.twitter.com/akwl8pChvj
— Football Tweet ?? (@Football__Tweet) January 4, 2023
Despite Sahin's efforts to calm the situation down, the referee handed out a red card during the incident, believed to have been aimed at a staff member.
Following the contentious clash, Antalyaspor released a strongly worded statement in which they demanded to see the Video Assistant Referee logs from the fixture.
"In Turkish football, Sivas and Gaziantep yesterday, Antalya today, is another city where a dark night will be experienced tomorrow," it read, per The Sun.
"We knew Kadir Saglam before.
"Let's remind: In the Kasimpasa match we played in the fifth week of this season, tonight's referee Kadir Saglam was also the one who did not give a red card to Larsson's face in the match against Kasimpasa, but who made up a penalty in the position that went aude [sic], and who was suspended for four weeks after this match.
"We said we don't want novice referees.
"In today's match, the same referee who assisted Fenerbahce's first goal, sought the penalty and made up the offside, despite being stopped by a foul while attacking with Bunyamin while he was ahead 1-0.
"We wonder if there's any offside talk in the VAR recordings.
"We demand clarification, we believe that TFF's understanding of transparency requires it.
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"If there is a right, we want it to be known that we are not halal.
"We are against the order that treats Anatolian clubs to the championship race.
"We demand justice not only for our community, but for all Anatolian clubs."
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