Jorge Jesus: “Suspension and lack of experience were decisive factors in the match against Dynamo”

Turkish Fenerbahce head coach Jorge Jesus summed up the return match of his team with Dynamo Kyiv (1:2) in the 2nd qualifying round of the Champions League, which took place last Wednesday in Istanbul.

“I think Fenerbahce was a team that played well in the first half. We had 7 shots on the opponent's goal, while our opponent had no shots on goal at all.

I think everyone at the stadium thought that Fenerbahce would be the winner of this two-legged duel as long as the teams played evenly. But the removal of Yuksek changed the course of the match. Our team lost its organizational structure, the balance was broken, and the opponent took advantage of this situation by scoring a goal.

Our team believed in success, fought even in the minority. Valencia missed the penalty, but our team continued to keep their courage. I think we can leave the Champions League with our heads held high. Lack of experience today played a decisive role in the outcome of the match.

I am sure that our fans who came to the stadium today left the stadium proud of Fenerbahce. We fought very well, not only when the game was 11 vs 11, but even when there was one person missing from our roster. But in the Champions League, small details play a decisive role. That is what happened today. The red card was a decisive factor for us. Up to this point, our team's ball possession percentage was 60%. But the suspension affected our control over the match.

Then we still managed to level the score, but our physical capabilities were not enough in overtime. It was very hard to play another 30 minutes being in the minority. This also became decisive in the end of today's match.

It should also be taken into account that we played against a very good team. Maybe you don't know Dynamo Kyiv very well, but they are a really great team. This is a very difficult opponent. So I am proud of the performance of my team.

Reverse replacement for Emre Mora? He entered the game well, but after 10 minutes he said that he was not feeling well. In general, I am satisfied with the performance of all the players who came on as a substitute today. They helped us a lot to get better in terms of the organization of the game, when after the removal it turned out to be a serious problem for us. It was after the substitutions that we made that equalized the score by moving the game to overtime.

I don't like talking about refereeing. King's canceled goal is normal. But with the second yellow card of Yuksek, not everything is so simple. He was the first to touch the ball in that episode. However, Yuksek is a young football player who played in the Champions League for the first time. Like most of the players on our team. But our rival, on the contrary, has a lot of experience playing in the Champions League, and Dynamo has been playing with approximately the same squad for five years now. We only trained together for five weeks. This difference is exactly what led us to defeat. Details and mistakes are everything. This is what happened today,” Jesus said after the end of the match against Dynamo.