“It’s gone quickly. It is only 18-19 days ago, we played the battle, and now you become even more scared over the fact that we played the match.”
Stale Solbakken sitting still and wonder a little about what he and his FC Copenhagen players was out for 12. march – that is, for small three weeks ago. Here was 12.000 Turkish fans, freeloaders and klubbosser pressed together to Europa League football in Istanbul between Basaksehir and FC Copenhagen.
A match, which was played in open court, while Denmark was started with a shutdown of society, and while countries in Europe were hit heavily by the corona-virus deadly consequences.
“At that time we did not know near what we know now. It just shows how little overview UEFA and the Turkish society had over it all. It was really bad and confusing,” says Stale Solbakken and comes with one of his characteristic, sarcastic suppositories.
“We must hope that Turkey had been right, that there was only one which was infected in the country at the time.”
For it was this that was the official Turkish figures on Thursday, when FC Copenhagen came out on the grass in the Europa League first knockout round. They did not want to enter there – in fact, would the Danish masters just home.
“I did really too, that the match should not be played. We were out in all instances, and we talked to all sorts of different authorities, to ‘this is madness’. It is here one can not be forced us out. And then it was game scary afterwards. We felt in the last day, that it accelerated,” says Solbakken.
the Hours before the match in Istanbul was more filled with talk about the corona and the families at home than on the football match, when the FCK-players sat ready for last meal before battle. And meanwhile, there is work behind-the-scenes to get called off the fight. Among other things, as a result of a specific document.
“We had papers from the high team in Denmark, who recommended that we went home.”
FC Copenhagen was played the match. There was otherwise the work of a cancellation, go on Thursdays, where startfløjtet sounded at. 20.55 local time.
“the Problem was, that at as many, because it accelerated out of the morning. So it was early afternoon, and it began to be extra restless. There, we got confirmed that this is not good. But at the same time, should we take a decision where you might be looking into getting a penalty for that you do not meet up to fight.”
“I do not believe that we had scored a penalty, but that we did not know at the time. And so it could have gone out over lots of jobs. It was a dilemma all the way. I think that the boys and støtteapparatet was incredibly good for both to have the human tone and at the same time, dare to talk about it. We asked the players whether we have to do it and it and it. At the same time, we worked hard on other parameters with the authorities and with UEFA to see how much we could do to avoid playing,” says Solbakken.
It was not successful. FC Copenhagen played and lost 1-0. And subsequently stormed the squad out of the stadium and away from the Turkey.
They just wanted home. But Stale Solbakken reached straight to long-off for UEFA and violent terms, before he sat on the plane at the time.
You were quite crass in their criticism of the UEFA afterwards. Have you heard anything from them since?
“No. I promise you that if I hear so much as a peep about it, so should I draw them… so I have not said my last word about it – to say it like that.”
