Montella stunned by Turkish fans' fury after 4-1 loss to Italy

Turkey lost 4-1 to Italy in Bursa on Monday, and Vincenzo Montella said the anger from the home crowd caught him off guard.

Italy led 3-0 inside 27 minutes at the Timsah Arena, with Alessandro Bastoni sliding in a low corner after nine minutes before Michael Kayode and Davide Frattesi struck either side of the half-hour. Baris Alper Yilmaz pulled one back three minutes into the second half, but goalkeeper Altay Bayindir then endured a torrid spell and Francesco Pio Esposito finished off the rout. Yilmaz also had a second goal ruled out for offside.

"The first half-hour was certainly one to forget," Montella told Sky Sport Italia. "Playing every three days at this level requires a certain focus and experience that we are currently lacking. We were in the Nations League C two years ago, won the Nations League B last time, so we showed that we clearly need to improve in this aspect. It requires a mental as well as physical reset every few days, and that isn't an easy thing to learn quickly."

Asked what went wrong in the opening spell, he added: "Certainly in the initial approach, they were more prepared mentally. We were uncoordinated, so we ran more and lost belief."

Fans inside the Timsah Arena — whose name means "crocodile" in Turkish, a reference to the stadium's shape — called for Montella's resignation before half-time, along with that of the Turkish Football Federation president. "They jeered the lads too after the first goal, who didn't deserve it," Montella said. "The atmosphere was marvellous before the game, I really didn't expect the reaction so quickly after all these lads have done in the last three years."

Merih Demiral apologised to the supporters afterwards, quoted by Fanatik: "We must say sorry to our fans. We are ashamed of this performance. There is not much more to say about it. Again: our apologies to our people. The responsibility lies with us, the players. We have two more matches in this international period, and we must show ourselves in the best possible way."

Zeki Celik struck a similar note: "We are extremely disappointed. This simply should not happen to us — however good Italy are, it should never finish 1-4 at home. We want to make our country proud by winning the next two matches."

Turkey, fourth in their World Cup group on three points from three games, travel to Belgium on Friday before a rematch with Italy three days later. Orkun Kokcu started in midfield for the hosts but, like most of his teammates, struggled to make an impression. Turkey have never beaten Italy. Belgium themselves lost 1-0 at home to France on Monday, Michael Olise scoring in the 88th minute — a result our prediction had called the other way, and one we broke down in more detail in our match report (/en/football/prediction/belgium-france-2026-09-28-12080/, /en/football/event/belgium-france-2026-09-28_6766456/).

Italian sources in Bursa expect an emergency meeting over Montella's position before Friday's fixtures. If Turkey lose to Belgium as well, the pressure on both the coach and the federation president is likely to grow before the second meeting with Italy on Monday.