Arda Guler has apologised to Turkey supporters after the Real Madrid midfielder’s national side crashed out of the 2026 World Cup with a 1-0 defeat to Paraguay.
Turkey had already lost to Australia and their second Group D defeat, at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium on Friday, left them unable to recover their campaign. Guler played the full match but Turkey again failed to turn pressure into goals, extending a painful tournament in which Vincenzo Montella’s side have not scored.
The 21-year-old accepted the scale of the failure after full-time. In comments carried by Turkiye Today after the Paraguay defeat, Guler said the squad were ashamed and apologised to the Turkish public.
Guler’s Madrid status makes the apology carry extra weight
For Real Madrid, the immediate issue is not fitness but psychology. Guler arrived at the tournament as one of Turkey’s headline players, and his creative output was meant to give them a route through a demanding group.
Instead, the focus now shifts to how quickly he can reset before returning to Madrid under Jose Mourinho. The apology matters because it shows Guler is not hiding from the responsibility that comes with his club status.
Madrid will want that disappointment channelled into pre-season rather than carried into it. Guler’s next task is simple: make sure a brutal World Cup exit becomes a scar, not a drag on his next club campaign.
