Fenerbahçe vs Adana Demirspor

Fenerbahce enter this season’s Turkish football season just one point shy of the coveted title after a close shave last term, they kick off their campaign at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium Saturday against Adana Demirspor. The home crowd will inevitably flock in to see Mourinho’s first league encounter with the newly promoted side from Adana on the other hand, will be eagerly awaiting the arrival of new boss Michael Valkanis.

Last season Mourinho was not in situ and Fener got 99 points but was unable to challenge for the title while Galatasaray, despite having a lower point total, secured 102. Only over two months following the heart-wrench end to the 2023-24 season, Mourinho plans to rally his players yet again for one more attempt at the first title in the Super Lig since the last time in the season of 2013-14 season and the 20th in the overall.

Compared to their counterpart, Mourinho’s men have been engaged in competetitve football this season, with the Yellow Canaries having featured in the Champions League qualifier prior to gameweek one fixture. After getting through to the next round at the cost of Lugano in the previous round, a defeat in the first leg away to Lille in France puts Mourinho and his side in potential european elimination before the return fixture the following week.

Because winning a place in Europe’s most prestigious club competition is financially lucrative, playing at home in this Thursday, August 13 match might entice Fenerbahce Santiago-Azores’s Portuguese manager into formulating changes. Adana will want to face a Fener side that is no where near their full strength on Saturday in a game Fener will look to bounce back from a disappointing 2023-24 season with a good start in the new season under new management.

Valkanis came to Turkey as a new manager only one month ago replacing Hikmet Karaman for the Australia’s team and he wants to start his Turkish journey with a victory. In the previous season, Mavi Simsekler saw its general performance decrease after the past two consecutive seasons where Vincenzo Montella led his team to a place in the top half of the league for the 2022-23 season being the best place achieved by the Italian coach.

That came after the former Italy striker, who improved the Adana-based team after taking over in the 2021–22 season, finished in ninth place overall.

The team's supporters, who want to see performances and outcomes that bring back memories of the previous years under Montella, will be hoping for a better year under their new Australian manager.

The away team must, however, bounce back from their miserable road trip from the previous season, when they managed only one victory in 19 games away from Adana while drawing ten and losing eight.