Okan Buruk: Our goal is to win here

In the 8th and final week of the UEFA Champions League, Galatasaray will face English side Manchester City away from home at 23:00 TSI. Having completed preparations for the match, the yellow-reds' manager Okan Buruk answered questions from members of the press at Etihad Stadium, where the match will be played.

Stating that their primary goal is to finish in the top 16, Buruk said, "There are different goals for both teams. Our primary goal is to be in the top 16. To achieve this, we will do our best to win here and enter the top 16. We will play against a very important team.

They have a very important manager and very important players. We will compete against a team that has been invested in for many years and is focused on winning and success. This match is also of great importance for them to be in the top eight. We know they haven't achieved the results they wanted in the last month, but their last win will be a morale booster for them," he said.

Providing information on the latest status of injured players in the team, the 52-year-old manager spoke as follows regarding their goals for the Manchester City match:

"From our perspective, we have recovered a bit more in terms of the squad recently. We had some minor injuries in the last match. Yunus did not train today; he had an illness and some minor aches. We used Barış for a part of the training. Torreira had an injury in the last match, and he also took part in a portion of the training today. Apart from that, we have a few other injured players. We included Singo in the squad for the first time. Overall, we have a team that has recovered, is closer to squad depth, and is capable of playing these types of matches. Our goal is to win here. It will be a very special match for me as well. It is a match where I will feel a bit different emotionally. I will be playing against my former teammates and a manager with whom I have many memories and am very close. To be back on the pitch in this stadium, after so many years and at this level, is truly very special for me. I am looking forward to it. I hope we return to Istanbul with a good performance and a good score."

"We are now more careful and experienced"

Expressing that the Frankfurt match was unlucky for them, Okan Buruk said, "It was a match where there were many individual errors, and we even produced many positions in attack. We experienced a similar situation in the first half of the Monaco match; it was a match where we were very close to winning and played superiorly. Sometimes such results can happen. When we look at it in terms of the game and game quality, momentary errors were decisive rather than a very big problem in terms of defense. In the last matches, we are playing more together and defending better together. Our players' concentration and focus on the game are very high in Champions League matches. It has to be like that at this level anyway. Because every mistake made here can be punished immediately by the opponent. We are now more careful and more experienced. Tomorrow, we will try to defend all together. Galatasaray is a team that always tries not to give the ball to the opponent. We want to reflect this on the pitch tomorrow as well," he said.

"We must act together"

Saying, "We can only challenge if we are a good team," the yellow-reds' manager said the following:

"Acting together is very important in such matches. When we look at the matches our opponent has lost recently, we see that teams that evaluate their mistakes well and play together are successful against Manchester City. The parts where we have possession of the ball are very important for us. We must defend together when the ball is with the opponent, and if we play with the right choices when the ball is with us, we can put up a strong challenge away from home. There is no such thing as choosing an opponent at this level. Every team is very strong. Form status, injuries, and the squad structure at that time are very decisive. Our first goal is to qualify for the top 16. After that, no matter who we face, we have the power to cope with them."

News Source: 12punto