All roads lead to Kadıköy for ‘mother of all derbies’

Both teams won in their respective UEFA Europa League group matches on Thursday and are therefore brimming with confidence. The Canaries are almost certain that the Lions, who have not won in Kadıköy for over a decade, will lose again this evening.

But the Galatasaray Lions are banking their hopes on Dutch “magician” Franklin Edmundo Rijkaard to wield his magic wand. The reason is that Rijkaard saw it all when he became the first Barcelona coach to win twice at Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.

That was a feat even great coaches such as Johan Cruyff, Louis van Gaal and former Fener coach Luis Aragones failed to accomplish. But can he lead the Lions to victory over the Yellow Canaries at Şükrü Saracoğlu? The Galatasaray fans think so, but the “Fenerians” say this is nothing but a joke.

The Galatasaray Lions beat the gritty Trabzon Black Sea Storm 3-2 at home last Sunday to end a two-game winless streak in the league. The Canaries, on the other hand, were beaten 2-1 away at Gaziantep, a result that cut their lead over Galatasaray to just two points and froze their unbeaten streak at eight games.

The Canaries will therefore be all out to repeat history by giving the Lions a sound beating, sending them home empty handed and increasing their lead over their avowed foe to five points again.

But the Canaries have serious injury problems to deal with. Brazilian captain-playmaker Alex De Souza, Spain striker Daniel Güiza and Brazilian midfielder Deivid De Souza all missed Thursday's UEFA Europa League match against Steaua Bucharest. Fenerbahçe's German coach Christoph Daum rested Turkey international forward Semih Şentürk and left Kazım Kazım as the sole striker.

Daum said on Friday that Alex and Güiza might be fit to play, but that Semih and Kazım have also joined the long injury list.

“Alex and Güiza took part in the training sessions today [Friday], and we will really need them for the derby,” the German told reporters after a practice session at the Can Bartu facilities in İstanbul. “There is still time and hopefully they will recover, especially after Semih and Kazım also joined the injury list,” he added.

“Our biggest advantage is playing in front of our fans,” Daum also stated, adding, “And we are always strong on our home turf.”

Whether any of these players are to play today, we do not know. All we do know for sure is that the Canaries will not have an easy ride if Alex, the best player on the Fenerbahçe team, does not play.

The losing coach is not likely to lose his job because the league season is only 10 weeks old and there are still many rivers to cross. Furthermore, if we use history as our guide, a Fener victory is very likely, so Rijkaard will keep his job if the Lions lose because a Galatasaray defeat at Kadıköy has almost turned into a tradition.

Rijkaard, in anticipation of this “mother of all derbies,” rested captain-playmaker Arda Turan on Thursday and substituted on-form Ivory Coast winger Abdul Kader Keita early in the second half. And this means he is serious about bringing an end to the seemingly endless Şükrü Saracoğlu jinx.

“As in every match, we will be going to Kadıköy to win,” Rijkaard said on Friday. “It's a very important match, and we are bound to take certain precautions. In summary, we are going to play very offensively, and we are going to play for maximum points.”

Rijkaard has no serious injury problems with defender Gökhan Zan back on the team after several weeks on the sidelines. As a matter of fact, Zan played against Trabzonspor last Sunday but showed serious signs of match unfitness. Whether Rijkaard will field him in today's rough-and-tumble match is another issue.

The “mother of all derbies” between Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray is never something for the fainthearted and more often than not is associated with violence on and off the pitch.

But in the final analysis it is a soccer match, not a war. Therefore the fans of the two teams, the players, the club administrators as well as referee Bünyamin Gezer must be on their best behavior this evening.

All we are saying is, let common sense and good sportsmanship prevail.

On Friday the Trabzon Black Sea Storm came from behind to beat visiting 10-man Kayserispor 2-1 at the Hüseyin Avni Aker Stadium. Portuguese forward Ariza Makukula put Kayserispor up 1-0 in the 19th minute, but goals for the Storm from midfielder Ceyhun Gülselam in the 36th and star striker Gökhan Ünal just before the end of the first half gave the Storm a much-needed victory and also saved under-fire Belgian coach Hugo Broos from another week of media bashing. Kayserispor finished the match with 10 men after Ali Turan was ejected in the 70th minute.

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