Turkish international striker Burak Yilmaz (77 caps, 31 goals), from French champion club Lille, announced his international retirement on Thursday after Turkey’s defeat in the semi-finals of the European play-offs for the 2022 World Cup during which he missed a penalty.
“It was my last match (with the Turkish jersey) today”said the captain of the Turkish national team in a post-match press conference, saying to himself “sad” to end his international career with this defeat against Portugal (3-1) at the Dragon stadium in Porto.
Aged 36, the “King” (King), as he is nicknamed in Turkey, had narrowed the gap in the second period (65th, 2-1) before missing a penalty (85th) that would have offered his team the equalizer.
“I think I’m going to wake up every night for the rest of my life thinking I’m scoring that penalty”said Yilmaz, author of a disappointing season in Ligue 1 after having been one of the great architects of the Lille OSC title last year.
Yilmaz, who notably wore the colors of the three big Istanbul clubs, Besiktas, Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray, participated in the jersey of Turkey at Euro-2016 and 2020.
SEE ALSO – The incredible impact of Burak Yilmaz at LOSC