Turkish footballer-turned-coach Nuri Şahin is proving doubters wrong as he took Antalyaspor on a club-record 14-match unbeaten streak in the Süper Lig.
The team, based out of the Mediterranean coastal city of Antalya, picked up its latest win over Konyaspor on Monday.
With just two weeks left, Antalyaspor is currently placed eighth in the league table with 55 points from 36 matches. It is level on points with seventh-placed Beşiktaş and just three points behind fifth-placed Alanyaspor.
Antalyaspor was languishing in the 14th place with just eight points from eight games when 33-year-old Şahin, a former star footballer for some of Europe’s top clubs like Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid, took the helm last October.
However, under Şahin and his Dutch technical director Alfons Groenendijk the Red-Whites have undergone a transformation, picking up 32 points from nine wins and five draws. In those matches, Antalyaspor scored 26 goals, while conceding only 10.
The last defeat it suffered was back on Jan. 20, when it lost 2-1 to Çaykur Rizespor in game week 22.
Since then, it has held teams like Beşiktaş (0-0), Adana Demirspor (0-0) and champion Trabzonspor (2-2) to stalemates. It also beat, former champion Başakşehir (1-0) among others.
Antalyaspor’s previous undefeated record was set back in the 2020-21 season, with just three wins and wins and 10 draws.
