Dutch star footballers Kody Gakpo and Virgil van Dijk spoke after the Euro 2024 quarter-final, where they beat Turkey 2-1 to reach the semi-finals.
Gakupo: Turkiye is a very good team.
Actually, we started well in the first half. We controlled the game until the goal. To be honest, after the goal we lost control and Turkiye took control of the game. We had to give it our all after the half-time. We started better in the second half. We created danger. Turkiye also fell a little bit out of the game. We were able to play better. De Vrij scored a goal, so we knew we could score the second goal and win the game. Turkiye came to us. It was a difficult game until the end. Turkiye is a very good team. We saw this. They caused us a lot of problems. They received the ball and made quick counter attacks. Turkiye is very good defensively. They made it to the quarterfinals because they were a good team. They showed that again today. Even just in the first half, we were different from each other. We started well and had the ball. Turkiye was a little bit late. Then Turkiye scored a goal. Arda Güler’s great pass scored the goal. After that, we calmed down and went into the second half. We worked hard and it paid off.
Van Dijk: Too many Turks
We fell back towards the end. Turkiye took too many risks and came against us. Finally we are in the semi-finals. We had a nice celebration with our fans. I’m very grateful to all the fans. There were a lot of Turkish fans in the stadium. I’m very proud of my team. We started very well, both in possession and when they had the ball. After that we started to play sloppy and lost the ball in dangerous places. As a result, we didn’t commit many turnovers, which made them more dangerous on the counter attack. In the second half we needed to stay calm and take our chances. We did this well. You have to do everything you can, and we did. You’ll see how everyone reacts to saves, tackles, etc. We pulled ourselves together and did our best to get to the semi-finals. Now we’ll recover and prepare for another tough match.
Praise for Baris Alper Yilmaz
Barış Alper Yılmaz was always running. He was running uncontrollably. It’s difficult for any defender. He pushed us very hard. But he couldn’t score a goal. However you describe him, he is a really important player.
