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Turkish telenovela: Mauro Icardi flourishes in Galatasaray | Israel today

2023-01-30T06:46:46.105Z


In recent years, Mauro Icardi has been busy with everything but football • From the separation from his wife to the veto that Leo Messi imposed on his presence at PSG • Now he is flourishing in Galatasaray and is trying to lead it to championship number 23


Galatasaray fans in the seventh heaven.

Or actually the tenth.

Their team is on its way to championship number 23 in Turkey, and yesterday's 0:4 victory over Girsonsspor was its 10th in a row.

And this is no small matter.

Since the establishment of the Turkish League in 1956, this is the first time this has happened to Chimbom.

In the 1987/88 season, the team had 9 victories in a row when the coach was Mustafa Denizli.

And so it happened 11 years ago, under the guidance of the legendary Fatih Trim.

But 10 in a row?

This is the first time.

A lot of credit goes to the 49-year-old coach, Okan Boruk, the former star of the team.

He was the coach who led Little Bashkir to a historic championship in 2020.

This summer he arrived at Galatasaray, and meanwhile the results are impressive: 15 wins and only two losses in 20 games.

But as far as the fans are concerned, the main person responsible is Mauro Icardi, the Argentinian striker who arrived on loan from Paris Saint-Germain and very quickly became an idol.

On Saturday against Girsenspor, the Argentinian did not score, and even missed a penalty.

But he was involved in all four goals scored by the team.

So far, in 10 league games, the striker scored 6 goals (including in the derby against Fenerbahce) and scored another 4. Just so you understand, he is involved in a goal every 74 minutes.

Icardi against Fener in the derby, photo: EPA

Yusuf Kanan, a commentator on the Turkish channel "Esport", says: "He arrived on the last day of the transfer window in mid-September, but it took him very little time to get into shape. It's not just that he is currently the best player in the league, he makes everyone around him much better ".

For the fans, Icardi is a gift that fell from the sky.

Last season was one of the worst in the history of the luxury club from Istanbul.

Galatasaray finished in 13th place, far from the champion Trabzonspor, who benefited from 13 goals from our well-known Tony Wakama.

"Chimbom" has not won a championship since 2019, and for such a magnificent team, 4 years without a championship is too much.

Icardi played the previous three years for PSG.

His first season, when he was still on loan from Inter, was excellent: he scored 20 goals and helped the team win the double and reach the Champions League final.

In the city of Hoorat they were enthusiastic and bought it for 50 million euros.

The next season was less good.

The striker scored 13 goals, and his and his wife/ex-wife Wanda Nara's never-ending telenovela made more headlines than he did on the pitches.

Then Leo Messi arrived, and it was clear that he was on the way out.

Also because he no longer had a place in the lineup that included Messi, Neymar and Mbappe, and also because of the shaky relationship with "The Flea".

It is interesting that the beginning of the careers of the two Argentines is very similar: both were born in Rosario, both stood out as gifted scorers, and both arrived at a young age in the youth department of Barcelona.

Only Messi became the greatest Barca player of all time, while Icardi decided to move to Italy.

First to Sampdoria and then to Inter, in which he scored 124 goals in 6 years.

Messi.

vetoed Icardi in the Argentina national team, photo: AFP

It's all in the headlines

Professionally, the striker was supposed to star in the national team as well.

But it didn't happen.

In his entire career he has 8 appearances in the national uniform and only one goal.

And he was never called to the squad for the World Cup - not in 2014, not in 2018 and not in 2022.

No one has said it explicitly, but many are convinced that Messi vetoed Icardi because of Wanda's involvement and the scandals it creates.

Especially the story of her betrayal of Maxi Lopes, her ex-husband and the father of her three children, from whom she moved into the arms of the footballer - with whom she gave birth to two more daughters.

Galatasaray fans are less interested in all these yellow stories.

They want him to stay in the team beyond this season.

But it won't be easy.

The contract in France guarantees him a salary of 10 million euros per year.

The Turks participate in less than 8% of the amount, and in the difficult situation in which the Turkish economy is, it will not be easy to bridge the gap.

But there is still time for all this.

Right now Icardi is focused on football, hungry for success, and the fans are in love with him.

The perfect recipe for a Turkish telenovela.

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Source: israelhayom

All sports articles on 2023-01-30

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