Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez praised Egyptian star Mostafa Mohamed, striker of the Turkish Galatasaray team, before the expected confrontation between the two teams scheduled for Thursday evening, at the Camp Nou stadium, in the first leg of the 16th round of the European League.
Xavi said in the press conference for the match: “Galatasaray have strong weapons, and great players like Mustafa Mohamed and Gomez, but they suffer without the ball, and this is what we will try to do, to seize the ball and deprive them of it.”
Regarding tomorrow’s match, the Barcelona coach said: “We are excited to face Galatasaray in a tournament that we are excited about, the Champions League is not true, but our feelings are good to return to playing with the fans, with the wonderful team dynamic we currently have.
He added, “Galatasaray is a team that can complicate matters and we have to be fully focused. They have a problem that we will try to exploit, which is that they suffer without the ball.”
Xavi continued: I don’t think we are the favorites to win the European League, we’ve never won it. Perhaps the nominations focus on former champions such as Seville.
Barcelona qualified for the European League final, after overcoming Napoli, Italy, in the knockout round, 5-3 in the total of the two legs.