Cagdas Atan: We Played One of the Heaviest Matches of My Career!

After RAMS Basaksehir’s 5-1 defeat to Slovenian team Celje in the second week of the UEFA Conference League, head coach Cagdas Atan stated that they received one of the heaviest results of his coaching career.

Speaking at the press conference following the match held at Celje Stadium, Atan said, “We played one of the heaviest matches of my 10-year coaching career. We started the match by entering one or two good positions. Just when we thought we would score, we conceded the first goal. After that, we tried to take control of the game, but we conceded very easy goals. As we conceded more goals, we continued to break down. This is a serious problem for us. In the second half, we wanted to return to the game with an early goal, but every time we thought we could come back, we conceded again, which led to even more disappointment, resulting in a heavy defeat.”

When asked about their chances of progressing to the next round in the Conference League, Atan commented, “There has been a decline in form over the last 2-3 matches, but we thought we could turn that around with this match. However, we saw it continued today. This defeat has made our chances of finishing in the top 8 nearly impossible. Looking at today’s performance, it doesn’t seem like we were going to challenge for the top 8. We need to work hard again and continue on our path. We are going through a busy schedule, but we were prepared for this and trained well, yet we couldn’t reflect that on the field. When you are placed between 8th and 24th, you earn the playoff right. From now on, our aim is to position ourselves there and play in the playoffs, while also continuing our path in the league with ambition.”