Super Eagles forward Victor Osimhen has struck a confident note after Galatasaray’s Champions League campaign was pushed into the play-off round by a 2-0 defeat to Manchester City, footynaija.com reports.
The former Napoli star insists the Turkish champions will be ready for whoever comes next; Juventus or Atletico Madrid.
The Istanbul side went into Wednesday night’s final group match needing a highly unlikely victory over City, plus help elsewhere, to sneak into the top eight and book a direct place in the last 16. Instead, goals from Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki underlined the gap between the two sides, sending Pep Guardiola’s team into the top eight while Galatasaray dropped to 20th.
Osimhen, who had scored six times in the competition before the game, was kept quiet, but his belief has not wavered.
With a daunting play-off draw awaiting, the Nigeria striker pointed to Galatasaray’s earlier 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid and last year’s home win over Liverpool as evidence they can compete at this level.
“I’m getting physically better,” Osimhen said as per Sporx via NowSpor. “We don’t have a situation where we have to choose between Juventus and Atletico Madrid. We’ll be playing in these places constantly. We’ll be better.
“The club is working on transfers. We signed two very good players. Both Juventus and Atletico Madrid are very good teams. Whoever comes, we’ll do our best.”
There is a sense of what might have been. After taking nine points from their first four matches, Galatasaray looked well placed for a top-eight finish, only to collect just one point from their final four games.
Even so, progress has been made. For the first time since 2013-14, Galatasaray have reached the Champions League knock-out phase.
