Victor Osimhen has disclosed that Galatasaray will be heading into their playoffs tie against Atletico Madrid or Juventus in the UEFA Champions League with confidence, SportPremi reports.
The Turkish champions finished in 20th position on the 36-team standings and missed out on a seeded spot in the playoff round, but will now go up against either the Spanish side or the Italian side in the first knockout round to determine who advances to the Round of 16.
They have already faced Atletico Madrid this season, when both teams played out a 1-1 draw in their penultimate league-phase clash.
Galatasaray headed into their final league-phase match against Manchester City on Wednesday night, knowing that a win could seal an unlikely top-eight spot or place them in a seeded slot for the playoff rounds.
However, they were defeated 2-0 in England, as goals from Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki sealed the win for Pep Guardiola’s side.
They ended their league phase campaign with 10 points from their eight matches, having won three times, drawn once while yesterday’s loss was their fourth defeat of the competition.
However, it marked the first time the Turkish giants have progressed beyond the first round of the Champions League since the 2013-14 campaign.
The draw for the knockout round will hold later tomorrow at the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland, as Galatasaray will find out their opponents for the next round of matches.
Osimhen reacts to Galatasaray potential playoff fixture
Victor Osimhen played the entire 90 minutes In Wednesday night’s clash against Manchester City, but was unable to help his side secure a favourable result as they suffered a disappointing defeat.
However, the Super Eagles forward believes the team will become better in subsequent matches and are ready to take on any opponent.
“I’m getting physically better. 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”, Osimhen revealed.
“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.”
Galatasaray manager Okan Buruk also expressed confidence in his side ahead of a tough test in the first knockout round.
“Our main goal here was to get into the top 24, and we finished 20th”, Buruk stated.
“Now we have two possible opponents: Juventus or Atletico Madrid. We know Atletico Madrid well; we played against them recently. Juventus is also a well-established team we know. In this format, fate plays a role to some extent. If we had finished with a higher points total, different opponents might have come up, but oh well”, he concluded.
The draws for the knockout rounds of the UEFA Champions League will hold on Friday, with Galatasaray set to find out their playoff opponent between Juventus and Atletico Madrid.
