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İsmail Kartal · Fenerbahçe · Marco Asensio · Romelu LukakuUnconfirmed report

Report: Kartal at war with four Fenerbahçe stars after the 6-0 at Villa

By the Data Desk · ·

First reported by Türkiye Gazetesi, via SonDakika · 16 OCT 09:17

Two days after the heaviest Champions League defeat in Fenerbahçe's history, the trouble has moved from Villa Park to the dressing room, according to Türkiye Gazetesi. The paper reports that İsmail Kartal has fallen out with Marco Asensio, Romelu Lukaku, N'Golo Kanté and Mason Greenwood over how the team plays and who plays, and that captain Milan Škriniar's comments after defeats have irritated him.

  • Türkiye Gazetesi (via SonDakika, 16 October): after a reported row with Asensio, Kartal's relations with Lukaku, Kanté and Greenwood have also become strained. Neither the club nor the players have commented.
  • Takvim (via A Spor, 17 October) adds Matteo Guendouzi and says some foreign players are unhappy that Kartal criticises them in public after games.
  • The club's official reason for leaving Asensio out at Villa was a knee "reaction" after a knock; he missed the last training session before Alanyaspor and is still being treated (Habertürk).
Why it mattersFenerbahçe are fourth in the Süper Lig with 13 points, and Alanyaspor, seventh with 12, come to Kadıköy tonight. A coach whose own away fans called for his resignation at Villa Park cannot afford a split squad for this one.

The story started with Asensio. Türkiye Gazetesi wrote that the Spaniard spoke to football director Oğuz Çetin after learning he would not start at Villa and chose to stay out of the squad rather than sit on the bench, Bold Medya and SonDakika report. Fenerbahçe's statement on 14 October gave a different reason: a "reaction" in his knee after a knock, and a plan to build his minutes back up after rehabilitation. On 16 October the paper went further, writing that Lukaku, Kanté and Greenwood disagree with the coach on his style of play and his team selection.

Takvim's version, carried by A Spor at 06:40 Turkish time on Saturday, says the problem is not limited to Asensio. It reports "iletişim sorunu" (a communication problem) with Guendouzi and Kanté, and says Lukaku is unhappy at being left on the bench and wants more minutes, while Kartal does not think he is fully fit. Both papers point to the same trigger: what Kartal says after games. After Villa he explained why he made no changes at half-time by repeating what Kanté had told him about his fitness, a remark that circulates in two different wordings in the Turkish press.

Kartal's public line on the night was an apology. "Bu skor nedeniyle camiamızdan, taraftarlarımızdan özür dileriz" (we apologise to our club and our supporters for this score), he said, as quoted by Türkiye Gazetesi. We covered the defeat and its history in our earlier story; Fenerbahçe have one point from two league-phase games.

At home the numbers are much better: Fenerbahçe are the Süper Lig's top scorers with 19 goals in seven games, Fotomaç notes. An orange heavy-rain warning for Istanbul led to talk of a postponement, but as of Saturday morning the Turkish federation had announced no change and the game is still scheduled. What happens next: Fenerbahçe v Alanyaspor at the Şükrü Saracoğlu, today at 19:00 Turkish time (18:00 CEST), with Asensio's place still unclear.

Our take · Editorial view

Tonight's team sheet is the real test

If the reports are right, a coach who explains a 6-0 by repeating what a player told him in private has a dressing-room problem, not a tactical one. Asensio's absence tonight would prove little, because he is being treated and missed the last session. Lukaku is the tell: he was fit enough for the Villa squad, and Takvim says he is unhappy on the bench. If he sits again against a side one point behind, the rift is real; if he and Greenwood start and Fenerbahçe win well, this will read like a bad week's gossip, and we will update the story either way.

Kartal, the 7-1 and the 6-0 →Our Aston Villa v Fenerbahçe analysis →Football news →
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Updates

  1. Fenerbahçe 3, Alanyaspor 0 on Saturday, and our Lukaku test came back the quiet way: he started and scored his first Fenerbahçe goal on 40 minutes, Kanté, Guendouzi and Greenwood (penalty saved at 0-0) also started, and Kerem Aktürkoğlu and Vedat Muriqi added the others (beIN Sports). Asensio was not in the squad; Kartal said afterwards "I have no problem with any player" and that the club and Asensio would explain everything on Sunday, while Fotomaç reports that Asensio needs knee surgery, which the club has not confirmed. By the test we set, the rift with Lukaku now reads like a bad week's gossip, the Asensio question stays open until that statement, and next come Slavia Prague at home in the Champions League on Tuesday (16:45 UTC) and the derby at Galatasaray on 26 October.
  2. Unconfirmed report Update, Wednesday 21 October: the Asensio part now has an official explanation, and it is medical. Fenerbahçe's statement says he had arthroscopic surgery in Spain for a cartilage lesion in his left knee and should need about three months, and on 18 October sporting director Oğuz Çetin denied any rift between Asensio and Kartal (Fotomaç). The wider report of a dressing-room war has been neither confirmed nor denied by the club, so it stays open. What has changed is the mood in the stands: after Tuesday's 2-2 with Slavia Prague, the Kadıköy crowd chanted for Kartal to resign, and he answered that a derby win at Galatasaray on Monday would make peace with the fans.
Unconfirmed reportAt the time of writing, this information has not been confirmed. The analysis above is the view of our editorial team.
Sources