ISTANBUL
Turkey's Galatasaray won the second leg of the quarter-final in UEFA Champions League against Spain's Real Madrid, 3-2, in a home game on Tuesday but failed to advance to semi-final as they had lost out to Real Madrid 3-0 in the first leg in Madrid a week ago.
Cristiano Ronaldo's early goal in the first half extended Madrid's aggregate lead to 4-0 but Galatasaray played a stirring football in the second half and Emmanuel Eboue, Wesley Sneijder and Didier Drogba all found the net. However, Ronaldo's late goal secured a 5-3 win on aggregate and a berth in semi-finals.
Speaking at a press conference following the game against Real Madrid, Galatasaray coach Fatih Terim said that "although we couldn't make it to semi-final in the Champions League, everyone is proud with our team".
"I had promised a Galatasaray with which everyone could be proud of whether or not we won. Today our team was one with which everyone was proud of," Terim stated.
"When the score was 3-1, I had hopes of advancing to the semi-final and so did the fans. We all carried the hope of advancing to the semi-final," Terim noted.
"We need to get together with our management in May and look at our deficiencies. We must plan a road map and be stronger on our path," Terim also said.
Also speaking at a press conference following Tuesday's game against Galatasaray, Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho underlined that "our players were not affected by the atmosphere at the Turk Telekom Arena but the Turkish players were".
"Galatasaray players benefitted the atmosphere in the arena well and played an excellent game," Mourinho stated.
"If anyone is to score against us, I would prefer them to be Sneijder and Drogba," Mourinho also said.
