Vincenzo Montella said Monday that his Turkey players will try to “honour” the huge support set to roar them on during Euro 2024, ahead of their opener with debutants Georgia.
Turkey’s Group F fixtures will effectively be home matches due to the huge numbers of Turkish fans living in Germany, and those supporters will create a feverish atmosphere during Tuesday’s clash in Dortmund.
Montella got a taste of the kind of support his team can expect during a 3-2 friendly win over Germany in Berlin in November, their first away success against the Germans since 1951.
“We’ve already experienced this support having played in Germany. It’s a big responsibility for us. We don’t want to disappoint the Turkish people here nor the ones back home so we’ll honour the flag right to the end,” Montella told reporters.
“We hadn’t won in Germany for 72 years, we hadn’t ever won away against Croatia (before beating them in qualifying) and we managed to do it, so it’s the year of firsts.”
It will be a doubly special occasion for Salih Ozcan, who plays his club football for Borussia Dortmund and will be playing on familiar turf at the Westfalenstadion.
“It will be like a home match for is, we need to use that support to our advantage,” said Ozcan.
“It will be a particular experience for me to play in this stadium. I hope that it will be red and white on Tuesday, it’ll be a great match that we want to win.”
Turkey will also face Portugal and the Czech Republic in Group F.
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