PSV was linked to Galatasaray in the second preliminary round of the Champions League on Wednesday in the draw. The player of the Turkish top club who knows the Dutch opponent best is Ryan Babel, who regularly played against the Eindhoven team in the service of Ajax. In a reaction to the club channel, Babel says that PSV is a tough opponent.
The first match will be played in Eindhoven on 20 or 21 July. PSV already announced that 25,000 supporters are welcome at the first leg, the return in Istanbul will follow a week later. “We are dealing with a very tough opponent”, said Babel, who calls the team of coach Roger Schmidt a ‘very good team’. “We will have to be well prepared. PSV is a good team, a team that always competes for the prizes. A few things have changed at PSV, they have changed trainers. They have young talented players and they use them. We will have to be very careful.”
Technical manager John de Jong has responded to the draw on the club’s website: “It is of course still difficult to indicate what Galatasaray’s exact level is at the moment, but from last season’s result you can conclude that she and PSV are on the We have the ambition to reach the group stage of the Champions League and everything will be dominated by that when the selection starts preparation on June 25.”
Galatasaray barely missed the Turkish national title last season. On the final day of the season, there were three title candidates with Fenerbahçe (79 points), Besiktas (81) and Galsatasaray (81). Besiktas eventually grabbed the title based on goal difference (45 to 44). Galatasaray finished second and grabbed next to direct qualification for the group stage of the Champions League. Now the Turkish top club will have to survive three preliminary rounds to reach the group stage of the billion-dollar ball. Besides Babel, PSV will also have to deal with Ryan Donk (ex-AZ) and Ömer Bayram (ex-NAC Breda), while players such as Radamel Falcao and Arda Turan are also under contract in Istanbul.
PSV regrets UEFA’s decision not to allow away supporters in the preliminary rounds of European club tournaments. The people of Eindhoven are therefore not allowed to bring fans to Istanbul. “It is fantastic that we will soon be able to enjoy football with our fans. We have been looking forward to this for a long time,” says commercial director Frans Janssen on the PSV website. “But in our view, this also includes away supporters. We find it a pity and incomprehensible that UEFA has decided otherwise. All of Europe is relaxing, football fans fly after their own national team during the European Championship, but according to the association, that is not possible in a club context. We don’t find that explainable.”
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