Nihat blasts English media

"In England, the media talks too much about the aggressive attitude of the Turkish fans. I do not agree with that," he blasted.

"There are many, many teams that have played in Turkey and not had any problem... I think it will be a match played between gentlemen and our fans know it. Nobody has to worry. It will be a match like all the others."

He feels that rather than agression, Turkish fans are enthusiastic supporters.

"The Turkish supporters push the players a lot during the game. Singing, shouting... they help us to play. Even if we don't win they feel happy because they are giving us their support.

"When I went with Real Sociedad to play Galatasaray some of my team-mates were afraid because of the atmosphere of the Stadium but once they were on the pitch they didn't feel any extra negative pressure."

The Real Sociedad hitman lamented the negative international reputation of his country, and says that it does not tally with people's personal experiences:

"People don't really know Turkey. When people who travel to Turkey come back, they say that it is a great country and the Turks are very friendly. I think that people must know before talking badly and criticising.

"The Europeans don't have a single positive idea about Turkey. Maybe it's our mistake by not showing a good image of Turkey, or maybe it is because they don't want to know it better.

"Anyway, the situation has improved in the last few years."

Nihat would rather focus on matters on the pitch, and believes that Turkey have the focus to beat England and secure automatic qualification for Portugal:

"It's the last match. If we win we qualify. The Turkish national team usually prepares very well for this kind of decisive match, and even more so when it is like a knock-out, with just one match to gain the glory," says Nihat.

"All the players are conscious on the importance of the game. The advantage is for us because we play at home and we will have our public behind us, although the match will be decided on the pitch, not off it."

Turkey has certainly gained positive attention for the national team's emergence on the international scene. This rapid elevation to the world's elite is certainly no surprise to Nihat, who maintains that it is no flash in the pan.

"It is the result of a long period of preparation. A new generation of players has appeared in the last few years. We have good national teams in different categories, not only professionals, also under-21 and juniors," he reasoned, claiming that Turkish football's status could only improve further.

"Emre and me are playing in Europe and we show to the young players the way to follow. Playing in Europe changes the mentality of the young players.

"Now they also want to go abroad. They want to represent Turkey abroad and I can guarantee that in the future there will be many more young Turkish players playing in Europe."

Saturday's showdown with England presents the perfect opportunity for Nihat to show just how far Turkish football has come.