Torsten Fink calls Samsunspor’s clash with Trabzonspor ‘match of the season’

Samsunspor manager Torsten Fink has described Saturday’s Turkish league meeting with Trabzonspor as the “match of the season” ahead of the Black Sea derby.

Trabzonspor will travel to Samsunspor for the fixture, which is scheduled to kick off at 16:00 on Saturday.

Speaking at his pre-match news conference, Fink underlined the importance of the game to both the club and its supporters.

“This match is extremely important and can even be described as the match of the season,” he said.

“We are fully aware of how important it is to our fans. If you look at Trabzonspor, they may appear stronger than us on paper in terms of the squad’s market value and the overall quality of the team.

“But derby matches have their own calculations and their own rules.”

Fink also expressed confidence in the work his players had completed during the build-up to the match and said he expected that form to carry into the game.

“I can say that we have had a very good training period,” he added. “I believe that if we can reproduce the performances we have shown in training in the matches ahead, we will achieve excellent results.”

Mohamed Salah is among the leading names in Trabzonspor’s selection options for the fixture, while Ukraine international Ruslan Malinovskyi remains unavailable because of injury.

Trabzonspor go into the derby seventh in the Turkish league table, with 10 points from six matches. They are three points behind the leaders.

Samsunspor are 16th, having collected four points.

Salah currently leads the Turkish league’s scoring standings with seven goals, level with Nigeria international Gift Orban, who plays for Amedspor.