Friday 17th December 2021
BVB icon shines as a coach
Nuri Sahin takes Turkey by storm
By Gerrit Kleiböhmer
When Nuri Sahin is no longer needed in the Bundesliga, he moves to Turkey. Now he is delighting the Süper Lig – not as a player, but as a coach. The 33-year-old rises at Antalyaspor overnight. The hymns of praise have not stopped since then.
A big hug here, clenched fists in the direction of the fans there. Then a cheer across half the square, another warm hug. If you look at Nuri Sahin’s Twitter account these days, you will see a young trainer who is clearly enjoying his work.
Preliminary high point: Sahins Antalyaspor defeated the previously undefeated leaders Trabzonspor on matchday 16 with 2-1 (1-1). The high-flyer team of coach Abdullah Avci had not lost in the Turkish House of Lords since mid-March.
But the underdog not only showed morale in the home stadium after the 0-1 deficit by Andreas Cornelius. Sahin’s team was even the better team for long stretches of the game and repeatedly forced the favorites to make mistakes with successful pressing actions. A penalty and an own goal by the guests ultimately turned the game in favor of the home side.
Sahin, who went to Turkey in 2020 after leaving Werder Bremen to end his career at Antalyaspor, was surprisingly promoted to player-coach in October after Ersun Yanal’s dismissal. Until then, the club from the Mediterranean metropolis – with the long-time BVB professional as captain in the central midfield – had only won one win out of eight games.
“Started to play very attractive football”
With Sahin on the sideline, the turnaround was achieved with 13 points in eight other games. Since then, the coach, who, as a homegrown offspring, once conquered the hearts of BVB fans by storm, has hardly been able to save himself from praise. “When Nuri Sahin took office, we started playing very attractive football,” said club president Aziz Cetin after the coup against Trabzonspor. The new coach is attracting more and more spectators to the stadium. “I hope the Turkish press sees the change. We are in the process of giving Turkish football a new coach,” said Cetin.
For Trabzonspor coach Avci it was also obvious that the first defeat of the season was mainly due to the ex-BVB star. “Before the game, I shared my thoughts on Nuri Sahin. His team has grown steadily since he took office,” said the former national coach.
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“Thank you very much for your kind words before and after the game yesterday,” replied the highly acclaimed, who incidentally, in his first eight games as the person in charge, has not been substituted on his own, via Twitter. In addition, the BVB crowd favorite shared a picture that shows him with a big grin. Nuri Sahin is clearly enjoying his work at the moment. The next win could already follow on Saturday against Demirspor. With three points, Antalyaspor would overtake ninth in the table.