Emre Belözoğlu: "It is sad that we were eliminated"

Antalyaspor and Beşiktaş faced off in the 3rd and final week match of the Ziraat Turkish Cup Group D. The away team Beşiktaş beat their opponents with goals scored by Arroyo and Rafa Silva and advanced to the quarterfinals.

The only goal for the red-whites came from Deni Milosevic, while the home team finished the group in 4th place with 3 points and bid farewell to the cup adventure in the group stage. The black-white away team, on the other hand, experienced the joy of advancing to the quarter-finals with 9 points by winning all 3 matches they played in their group.

After the match, Antalyaspor Coach Emre Belözoğlu made a statement.

"IT'S SAD THAT WE WERE ELIMINATED, BUT..."

Emre Belözoğlu, "Let me say at the beginning what I will say at the end. Of course, today's match had a similar start to the Bodrumspor match. We couldn't enter the game for 20-30 minutes. During the period, Beşiktaş tried to play a game with high dominance and possession of the ball with the arrival of Solskjaer, the last coach in the game. We had actually studied our lesson with Masuaku, but we had responded to this especially in the first match. We conceded a very simple goal. Afterwards, the players showed a reaction. I think we showed a reaction towards the end of the first half before the second half. We tried to create positions. We entered the game better in the second half. I think we also turned the momentum to our own side with the player changes. But we have to say it here. The player quality is very high. Beşiktaş won 5 of the last 7 games. They only have one draw with us. They also have one loss, as far as I know. But no matter what, my players tried to oppose Beşiktaş's game, which has been getting stronger and increasing in the recent period, as much as they could. I am pleased with their struggle. Of course, we started the match with players who we gave less chance to play rather than players who played a match just two and a half days ago. After that, we made a few moves. I am generally pleased. It is sad that we were eliminated, but in the short term and realistically, our biggest goal is to get away from the last four teams in the league as soon as possible and put ourselves in a comfortable position. We will continue to fight for this. I would like to thank all the fans who came here and the players who fought on the field. I wish Beşiktaş success in the Turkish Cup," he said.