european champions cup second round - second leg wednesday, 3 november 1976 kick-off 7.30 p.m. liverpool versus trabzonspor
meet the men from trabzonspor
a home-grown team has paid off for the turks
trabzonspor may be new to the big-time soccer scene in turkey, but they have eight players in their first-team pool who are, or have been, members of the turkish international squad, and at least four trabzonspor players are expected to be capped for the world cup qualifying mathes in which turkey are involved.
the turkish club, which in the main finds and grooms its own talent from players in the city and surrounding townds and vilaghes, has built up a reputation for tremendous loyalty and team spirit, and there are 18 players who proudly call themselves members of the firs-team squad.
names such as senol, turgay, necati, kadir, cemil, hüseyin, ahmet and ali kemal may be unfamiliar to football fans in this country, but in turkey, these are all players who have established tehemselves on the international scene. and of the 18 man squad, no fewer than 14 were born in trabzon, while the other four come from istanbul.
goalkeeper senol in one of the local booys who made good, and this 24 years old, still studying at university, gained youth international honours, initally. trabzonspor also have a 19-year-old keeper named tekin, who is another local-born player.
the back-four men have collected two dozen caps between them. there is turgay, trabzon-born and 22 years old, who has been chosen for turkey five times; there is necati, again a local, and this 23-year-old has eight caps. and there are skipper cemil, aged 25, who has been capped twice, and kadir, a 24-year-old, with nine caps, both kadir and cemil are natives of trabzon.
trabzonspor can perm from half a dozen players for the midfield scene of operations. and only two of them -eyup and unsal- are not local players. they come from istanbul. eyup is 25, and was capped three times at amateur-international level; unsal is a 21-year-old.
the other four players are bekir, aged 28; ali yavuz, who is 27-years-old and hails from the township of kastamonu near trabzon; engin, aged 22, who is a student; and selahattin, who is 25.
two of the six players who can operate as forwards come from istanbul -they are ahmet and serdar- while the remainder are trabzon men. serdar, aged 25, won youth-interrnational honour and has just completed his studies; ahmet also aged 25, is a full international.
huseyin, a 24-year-old, has eight caps to his credir and ali kemal, who usually wears the no. 9 jersey, is another international who, at 25 is rated one of the top players in turkey. necmi, aged 28, and cemil altun, aged 27, complate the squad.
trabzonspor may make some changes in their line-up, as they attempt to contain liverpool and gold on to the single-goal lead the forged in the first leg, and they decide on a formation which has a mainly defensive outlook.
the turks are manged by a former international star, ahmet suat ozyazici, and he will doubtless have worked out a plan to try to stop liverpool getting the goals they need, especially as trabzonspor have gained a reputaion for conceding few goals away from home.
but its likely that the turkish team boss will rely on yje players who, in the main, are regarded as first-team regulars senol, turgay, necati, kadir, cemil- ali yavuz, bekir, huseyin, ali kemal, necm and ahmet, through there could be places for eyup and engin, if trabzonspor decide to pack their midfield.
whatever the turkish team formatiin, liverpool know the task that faces them-quite simply, it is to score at least two goals, without conceding one themselves. and on home ground, the players are confident that they can do this, and go through to the last eight of the european cup.
liverpool football club
chairman: john w. smith, j. p. vice-chairman: j. t. cross directors: h. cartwright, s. c. reakes, j. p., c. j. hill, e. a. f. sawyer, w. d. corkish, f. c. a team manager: bob paisley secretary: peter robinson
f. a. cup winners seasons: 1964-65 and 1973-74 u.e.f.a cup winners seasons: 1972-73 and 1975-76 league champions seasons: 1900-01, 1905-06, 1921-22, 1922-23, 1946-47, 1963-64, 1965-66, 1972-73, 1975-76