Galatasaray Coach Okan Buruk: Our goal is to win the match as always.

Buruk made a statement at the press conference held at Kemerburgaz Metin Oktay Facilities before the match, which will start at 22.00 tomorrow at RAMS Park.

Stating that they will play against Barcelona to win, as in every match, Buruk said, "Firstly, we are very excited because it is a UEFA Champions League match, and secondly, we will play against Barcelona. We will play on our home field. Every Champions League match we play on our home field is very exciting for us, our motivation increases a lot. Sometimes in such matches, you do not need to prepare the players at the highest level. The preparation of the players for such matches is much different." he said.

Reminding that Barcelona won all 9 official competitions this season, Buruk said, "We will play with one of the most fit teams in the world right now. They won all their matches this year. We do not need to explain how important our opponent is, what they play, but we will be against them. We have achieved important successes in our stadium when we show our best performance. Sometimes we have done very well by winning games even if we cannot win a match. Our goal is to win the match, as always. We will do our best for this, but we are against a very important team. "Everyone will say that Barcelona is the favorite of the match, but there is a group of players here who will live by that belief. Hopefully, we will try to do better." he said.

"There is a team that will punish mistakes very easily"

The coach of the yellow-red team stated that they should play with the least mistakes in both defense and attack against Barcelona.

Pointing out that Barcelona is a quality team, Buruk said, "We will not only defend. We will also attack. We need to think about both together. You have to do your best in defense and attack against Barcelona. No matter which area you meet the opponent, it is necessary to put the most intense pressure. It is important to try to win the ball passionately when the ball is in the opponent's possession. We need to show this passion. We need to be calm on the offensive side, we need to keep the ball at our feet. They conceded a lot of goals last season, but they did not concede that many this season. They play their own game." "We will play against a team that tries to resist the opponent. They have important players. We need to make fewer mistakes. They are a team that will punish mistakes very easily." He commented:

Okan Buruk explained that they need to play an aggressive game and said, "We are Galatasaray. We will play on our own field. No matter what system we play against the opponent, we need to be aggressive. We will show that aggressiveness on our own field and try to close our goal. We have players who can do this. We have a very good goalkeeper. We will do our best to prevent the opponent from scoring goals, but we also need to score goals." he said.

Stating that the match against Kasımpaşa in the Trendyol Super League was difficult, the experienced coach said, "Our most difficult match was the Kasımpaşa match. Torreira and Sanchez came from afar during the national match. Batrakov had played three matches. The players returning from our national team were the most tired. Losing four matches was not physically, but mentally tiring. The Kasımpaşa match was very difficult for this. There were players who returned from injury and will play their first match. In the next part, only Singo is missing. Günay started training this week. Tomorrow he "Apart from them, we are a full squad. There was a 4-day break after the Kasımpaşa match. We had enough rest. The more we win, the happier we are and that's why we need to win the matches." made his assessment.

"We are very pleased with Batrakov"

Okan Buruk said that they were satisfied with the performance of Russian football player Aleksey Batrakov.

In response to a foreign press member's question about Batrakov, Buruk said:

"Aleksey is playing outside his country for the first time. He is very young. After he came here, everyone helped him adapt a lot. We transferred him because he is a very good football player. Besides, he is a good professional, a very good person and a player who is open to improvement. It is also important for me to work with a player who tries to improve himself and contribute to his team. We love him very much, we also like him as a player. We are trying to help him improve himself. He has a lot of offensive talent. He started to defend the team very well. He started to play in the team's game very quickly. "He has adapted. He also defends the team well with his friends. We are very pleased with his performance."

"Baris showed that he can play right-back"

Galatasaray Coach Okan Buruk evaluated the performance of Barış Alper Yılmaz, whom he played as right-back in the Kasımpaşa match.

Buruk stated that Barış was used to playing full-back and said, "Barış did not play full-back for the first time. Two seasons ago, he played a lot of matches both at right-back and left-back. He contributed to the team as a left-back when we were in trouble. The fact that he moved from full-back to forward played a role in the increase in Barış's performance. He is a player who knows that position. In some matches, you are more in the opponent's half. In Kasımpaşa, we used Barış higher, with Yunus coming in. We used Barış higher in the Barcelona match. "It will be different. His goalscoring, playing well, winning percentage in two-on-one matches, and his help in defensive transitions showed that Barış can play this role." he said.

"Hopefully we will have another win"

Okan Buruk said that he wanted to experience the Barcelona victory he experienced as a football player, as a coach.

Reminding that he played against Barcelona as a football player in 1994 with the Galatasaray jersey, in which they won 2-1, the experienced coach said, "It was very difficult to beat Barcelona in those years. I was on the field as a football player in 1994. Then we matched with Barcelona a lot. It is a different feeling as a coach. I trust my players very much. We can do very good things with them in such matches. I hope we can have another victory with the support of our fans. It is a difficult match." "We say it, but we will do our best." he said.

Stating that a possible victory will raise their morale and motivation, Buruk said, "Barcelona has not lost any points this season. A positive result against such a team will lift us up. We have goals in the Champions League. From now on, we will play much more critical matches. That is why every point is very important. We experienced a similar scenario before the Liverpool match last year. We played against a very good and favorite team." made the statement.

İlkay Gündoğan's reaction

Okan Buruk said that the reaction of experienced football player İlkay Gündoğan after the Kasımpaşa match should be considered normal.

After the Kasımpaşa match, he answered the question "Are you ready for the Barcelona match?", "I'm not playing. Speaking about İlkay, who responded by saying "Why should I be ready?", Buruk said, "I came from football. We've all experienced these. There is a feeling there. Players are not robots. They are all human. If you were someone of that age, experience and professionalism who did not play, or even warmed up on the sidelines and did not enter the game, you would be upset too. You can also make this clear. You should not get hung up on this. İlkay always gives the best performance in training and is ready to play. We played a very different match against Kasımpaşa. We all need to know that these players have good characters and love their teams very much. I don't see anything different from my players. What he did should not be seen as wrong. A human sadness. When a question comes up, there may be such answers. You should not get stuck. "Ilkay is trying to do the best for the team and I am very happy with him," he concluded his words.