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Main » 2013 » April » 3 » Mourinho aware of Turkish pride

Mourinho aware of Turkish pride

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Real Madrid head coach Jose Mourinho is wary of the threat Galatasaray pose ahead of their Champions League meeting on Wednesday.
Madrid edged Manchester United 3-2 on aggregate and now face Galatasaray in the quarter-finals of Europe's most illustrious club competition.

Many pundits believe Madrid will breeze into the final four but Mourinho is not expecting things to be so easy for his star-studded team.

"Yes, it will be a tough match," the dual Champions League-winning coach said.

"They (Galatasaray) are a team with a great coach, a coach with experience in these types of matches. 

"He is comfortable in this type of dimension. He will organise his team to defend, work hard and try to get a positive result. In saying that, they won't be scared of playing here. 

"They have players that have played for some of the best teams in the world, Arsenal, Juventus, Liverpool, Chelsea, Inter and Real Madrid. Players who will have no problem playing in the Champions League quarter-finals, it will be tough."

Mourinho also singled out attacking trio Didier Drogba, Wesley Sneijder and Burak Yilmaz.

"They have three players who don't need any introduction: Drogba, Sneijder and Yilmaz. Those three can cause any team problems."

However, Mourinho believes there are no favourites at this stage of the competition and promises not to let his own reputation get in the way of the team's success. 

"I don't like to speak about favourites at this stage," he said. "In fact when I got to this stage with Porto and Inter we weren't favourites but we won the competition. 

"Then I got to this stage with Chelsea and Real Madrid, who were perhaps amongst the favourites, and didn't win. 

"At the quarter-final stage all the teams have been playing well - teams who get this far have a lot of confidence."

Opposite number Fatih Terim, meanwhile, is confident his side can defy the odds and advance to the semi-finals.

Terim, who is in his third spell as coach of Galatasaray, watched on as the Turkish club knocked out Schalke in the last round and is positive that his side can continue their run in the competition.

"I trust in my team and in my players," said Terim. "We came from the group of Manchester United and then knocked out Schalke, so we fought very hard and we will continue to fight.

"We will look to continue doing our best. We are going to play with the idea of pushing every limit. 

"I have never told my players that one goal was enough. I always tell them to overcome their limits, to keep on growing."
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