While not only representing the Black Sea region, Trabzonspor strode into Thursday's UEFA European Conference League playoff round of 16 second leg tie against Basel with the weight of Türkiye's pride firmly upon their shoulders.
The eventual result may have been disheartening, as Swiss forwards Zeki Amdouni's 13th-minute strike and Andi Zeqiri's 76th-minute game-sealer sent the Black Sea Storm to a 2-1 aggregate defeat, but the emotions that had been stirred from the previous Thursday's match were certainly heartwarming.
The reigning Süper Lig champions entered Thursday's match with a slight edge, having been the more impressive side in the emotion-packed earlier clash at the Şenol Güneş stadium.
Boasting an impressive ball possession percentage and high-line pressing, Trabzonspor were unable to replicate their home form in the final third as they found themselves 1-0 down by the quarter-hour mark.
From then, it seemed their efforts were in vain, as they only managed to have five shots on target out of the 21 they had in total.
In comparison with the team that started at home in Trabzon, coach Abdullah Avcı made two changes and unfortunately the changes could not make a difference at St. Jakob Park.
Avcı made a strategic substitution by bringing in Bartra and Larsen to man the right and left flanks of the defense, respectively.
While Bartra slotted in for Peres on the right, Larsen, who had scored in Thursday's match, took over the left-back position from Eren Albayrak.
In the Black Sea Storm, the absence of key players Marek Hamsik, Dorukhan Toköz and Edin Visca due to their respective injuries was keenly felt, while Montasser Lahtimi and the newly acquired Lazar Markovic were ineligible to play as their names did not appear on the UEFA squad list.
Turkish fans flocked to the match in droves, with an estimated 10,000 supporters from Switzerland and the neighboring countries cheering on Trabzonspor from the stands, while also taking part in the sections designated for the Basel faithful.
Lo and behold, despite playing on the road, the Burgundy-Blues experienced more vocal backing from the crowd than the home teams.
After the catastrophic "disaster of the century" dubbed twin earthquakes that ravaged southeastern Türkiye, the football world came together in a show of unity and solidarity, sending the message of "one heart" with their unified behavior in Basel.
In addition to Trabzonspor fans in the stands, Galatasaray, Beşiktaş and Fenerbahçe fans also showed support for the Black Sea Storm.
Trabzonspor will resume action in the home league game against bottom-placed Ümraniye on March 4.
