Conference Leagueashemenou. An early European elimination was not in the season planning of the Dutch entente at Antwerp and certainly not in that of chairman Paul Gheysens. An adult Basaksehir gave the Great Old a sweltering cold shower.
Good old Cisse Severeyns, in fashionable white trousers, was summoned to kick off. Cisse was there when Antwerp realized its greatest European exploit in club history: Wem-be-ley 1993. ‘Every little bit helps’, they must have thought at the Bosuil. Against Basaksehir, Michael Frey took over Severeyns’ former position in striker. The Swiss kept Vincent Janssen on the bench. Has Frey ever tried a marker?
Anyway, de Cisse was not quite in his seat after an extensive selfie round when Antwerp already fell behind. From Antwerp’s point of view, that goal came way too easily. At first Pacho was too easily ruffled by Gürler in the air, then Okaka was able to cross unhindered and finally Yusuf let Özcan loose in his own sixteen. Well, then you might as well kick the ball into your own goal yourself. Jean Butez’s French curse – it was something with a p – was in order. 900 Turks had a great time in the visitors’ section. They were in Istanbul almost a week earlier.
Now Basaksehir is a nasty team to face. It doesn’t look very sexy, but the co-leader in the Turkish league does have plenty of experience. An exponent of this is Lucas Biglia. At 36, the former captain of Anderlecht is still a smart and useful player. After the opening goal, Antwerp failed to take control of the game for a long time. Basaksehir found the free man more easily. Around half an hour we saw Antwerp trainer Mark van Bommel already slapping his hands in front of his face.
Towards the end of the first half, the Great Old’s engine started to fire. After some rumbling and fumbling, a few opportunities came out of the blue. The purity in the zone of truth, however, was lacking. An attempt by Frey with his outside foot was creditable, but Frey is no Cisse. Ekkelenkamp, who for the occasion set up a 4-3-3 on the left, also appeared a few times in a promising position. Also with him the finish was just not clean enough. Halfway through it was 0-1 and so Antwerp had to work hard.
Shortly after the break, Antwerp gave itself oxygen. Ekkelenkamp went on chasing keeper Babacan and perhaps got a small tap. The Austrian ref Schüttengruber thought it was enough for a penalty, which was neatly converted by Michael Frey. Frey depicted a fluttering bird at his celebration. A bit ‘Cisses’, as it were.
The Antwerp joy was short-lived. Within two minutes Basaksehir took the lead again. With a cross from Chouiar, Okaka got a little too much space from Pacho and the ex-Anderlecht player knew what to do with it. In an attempt to change the course, Mark van Bommel brought in Valencia and Janssen instead of Miyoshi and Frey. It didn’t help much at all. On the contrary, Antwerp no longer ran out of opportunities and lost itself in peripheral matters. Even Toby Alderweireld was tempted into a disturbance at the Turkish bank.
In the absolute final phase, substitute Aleksic turned off the light completely on the Bosuil. Once again, a visiting player was allowed to head far too freely in the Antwerp sixteen. Gone European dream for this season. What would Cisse Severeyns have thought of it?
Mark van Bommel: “The details are decisive”
“We started the game with a clear plan and created a few chances”, Van Bommel opens. “The three goals against are preceded by a mistake. There were also moments that we could have done better in attacking terms. It’s the details that are decisive, I’ve repeated that many times. Today they were against us.”
Janssen: “When it fell 1-1, I thought we would get over it. On the contrary”
Vincent Janssen came to relieve Michael Frey on the hour – just after Basaksehir’s 1-2, but he too was unable to turn the tide. “This is equally difficult for us. It’s only our first defeat, that’s always disappointing, especially at this moment. Well, we have to get over that. It is now up to us to show that we are stronger as a team.”
Whether Basaksehir was better over two matches? “It’s hard to say that right away. They won, so they were stronger, right? They were certainly more efficient. We were better in the last 10 minutes before the break, actually we should have scored a goal there. When the 1-1 fell, I had the feeling that we would go over it. On the contrary. That was a painful moment.
The Dutchman is still on 0 official goals for the Great Old. “That’s not nice of course, I hope to change that soon. I work hard on it, but the team always comes first. We walk 12 by 12, so it’s going well. Everyone contributes, and I want to do the same with goals. Sunday is match day. That sucks, but on the other hand, it’s a good time to turn this around again.”
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