Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen believes a strong performance in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie against Liverpool could be key for Galatasaray’s hopes of progressing into the last eight, Footynaija.com reports.
Galatasaray welcome the Premier League champions to RAMS Park on Tuesday, March 10 for the first of what will be a two-legged affair that will decide which team reaches the quarterfinals of Europe’s biggest club competition.
While Osimhen is aware of the difficulty of the task ahead, the Super Eagles striker suggested that playing the first leg at home could be a massive boost if the Lions played their cards right.
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“A win would of course give us extra support and confidence; however, we also need to keep our feet on the ground. Liverpool are a very big and very ambitious team,” Osimhen said, per quotes on Galatasaray’s official website.
“Playing at home could be an advantage for us. If we play a better game in front of our fans, taking lessons from this match, I believe we can get a good result, even if it won’t be easy.
“Every match in the Champions League is already very difficult. We will do our best to perform well there and achieve good results in front of our fans.”
Galatasaray’s play-off tie against Serie A giants Juventus followed a similar pattern where the Super Lig champions cruised to a 5-2 win in the first leg at RAMS Park before surviving a big scare in Turin to emerge 7-5 aggregate winners after extra time.
The Lions will also take some confidence from the result of their meeting with Liverpool earlier in the season. They played hosts to the Reds on matchday two of the league phase and recorded a huge 1-0 victory to the delight of the RAMS Park faithful.
For Osimhen, he heads into the encounter in great scoring form with goals in each of his last three appearances for Galatasaray. His most recent strike came over the weekend in a narrow 1-0 win over Gala’s Istanbul rivals Besiktas.
