Kuijt: Fenerbahçe win a miracle of Istanbul

Dirk Kuijt experienced a wonderful Wednesday evening as interim coach of Fenerbahçe.

His former club Liverpool was beaten 3‑2 during the Champions League tie in Istanbul.

After the match, Kuijt described the game as a miracle.

Before the match, Emre Belözoğlu was introduced as the new coach of Fenerbahçe.

The tie with the Reds came too early for him, so Kuijt was on the bench.

He saw Fener pull off a big stunt in their own stadium.

The Katwijk native would himself place the headline ‘A miracle of Istanbul’ above an article.

Kuijt’s vision and message

He stated that it meant a lot to him to stand on the sidelines as coach of Fenerbahçe and thanked the chairman.

Liverpool took the lead twice, but Fenerbahçe still finished with three points.

Kuijt said that what he learned at Liverpool, ‘never give up’, is and that they needed to bring energy and passion back into the team.

Before the match, he told his players that years ago a miracle took place in Istanbul when Liverpool came back from a 3‑0 deficit and won the Champions League, and that they now had to create a miracle themselves.

He emphasized that they need a plan, a philosophy and especially belief to beat the best teams in the world.

The match against Liverpool was his first and immediately also his last as interim coach.

Kuijt wished Emre Belözoğlu much success and hoped that the players would go to training tomorrow with this positive feeling.