Berke Ozer saw his popularity explode after three expected penalties in Roma-Lille. In the Europa League match where the French team was imposed 1-0 at the Olimpico, the Turkish goalkeeper managed to neutralize Dovbyk twice and Soulé once, after the referee decided to repeat the penalty. An unforgettable evening for the player born in 2000, who in the transalpine formation has inherited the place of Chevalier, who in turn had become the heir to Donnarumma at PSG. How did he do it? In addition to the desire to make up for a difficult start to the season, Berke Ozer had a special motivation, thanks to his fiancée.
Incredible scene during the match between AS Roma and Lille — the penalty had to be retaken three times, and Lille's goalkeeper Berke Ozer saved all three. ???????????? pic.twitter.com/3ETBEp9oP5
— Tekkers Foot (@tekkersfoot) October 2, 2025
If waiting for a penalty is no easy feat, imagine waiting for three in three minutes, against two different players. And yet Özer did it, both when the referee decided to repeat the penalty due to a teammate entering the area, and when he himself was caught in front of the goal line. Two dives to the left to say no to Dovbyk and one to the right when Soulé decided to change trajectory. An extraordinary triple intervention for this guy who, after wearing the jerseys of many clubs in his homeland, including those of Fenerbahce, Eyupspor and Umraniyespor, with brackets in Portugal and Belgium, decided last summer to move to Lille. The French club, left without one of the best goalkeepers in France, decided to invest in him with a figure of 4.5 million euros.
Ozer's appearances at Lille after Chevalier
The start was not easy for Berke, who, before the challenge with Roma, had conceded 13 goals in 7 matches, collecting only one clean sheet. Then, here was the magical night of the Olimpico for this young man who has two appearances with the first Turkish national team in his active career, where he had arrived after having passed all the age levels. His coach Bruno Genesio commented on the goalkeeper's performance: "Berke came after a goalkeeper like Chevalier, one of the best in France. It is not easy. As a young and little-known person, he changed country, language, training habits. These are really difficult challenges."
Even Genesio was very impressed by what happened: "Berke Ozer saved three penalties in a row. I had never seen anything like that in my life. There were difficult moments. He had already saved a penalty in the match against Lorient. For him, saving penalties seems almost like a hobby. But to make it in Europe is something extraordinary."
Even Roma coach Gasperini spoke after Roma's defeat against Lille in the second leg of the Europa League and on the three penalties missed within a few minutes he said this: "I don't know, it's really a unique and random situation and it happens very rarely. It happened and without a doubt it compromised the result. The team in terms of pace gave a lot and that penalty could have given a positive turn. Then you lose and of course you see all the negatives, but we come out with some more value."
Promise to the fiancée
And the protagonist himself? Berke Ozer, enthusiastic and almost unbelievable, shared a behind-the-scenes story related to his fiancée on Canal+'s microphones: "It was a crazy evening. Before the match, I promised my fiancée that I wouldn't concede a goal. She told me that it had been a while since I had kept a clean sheet. I didn't think it would be that difficult, but in the end I managed it. I don't even know how I did it, to be honest. If there had been a fourth, I could have expected that too. But it was an incredible evening for the team. Inside me, what matters are the three points, not the three expected penalties."