These are hours of great tension for Turkish football. Last weekend, scenes at the final whistle of the Trabzonspor versus Fenerbahce match went around the world. The Fenerbahce team definitively turned around a two-goal deficit with a goal three minutes from the end by Batshuayi, but at the final whistle, the home team's ultras invaded the pitch and began to assault the Fenerbahce players who managed to escape but also defended themselves with their own hands. A case that could also indirectly involve AC Milan due to the future of Rade Krunic. For this reason, Tuttosport headlines this morning:
"The Fenerbahce case involves Krunic".
After that unfortunate scene, the president of the attacked club, Ali Koc, spoke very harshly.
Here are his words as relayed via Milan News:
"When it's too much, it's too much, we will not accept this treatment in our country and once again we shout out what is happening in Turkish football, from betting to fixed matches, from unfair competition to refereeing, and I don't care if we are relegated to a lower league. Better to die once than to die every day, but we must save our future and now we will see what will happen, but one thing I want to say. There is no place for Fenerbahçe in the Super Lig. If this decision is to be made, we must make it before April 3. If we make this decision, I will not leave. As president of a lower league club, I will bring the club back to the Super Lig."
Fenerbahce could therefore withdraw from the league, facing automatic relegation.
And here is where Milan comes into play. In accordance with their wishes, Rade Krunic was sent to Turkey in January with a loan deal with an obligation to buy. This clause would have been activated in case of Fenerbahce's survival, a formality for a club currently fighting for the title. Yet the possibility that the Turkish club could be automatically relegated to the Second Division with a potential withdrawal could throw everything into question: Fener could appeal to the fact of being relegated to avoid paying the buyout obligation. This could lead to complex legal proceedings.