BARCELONA, 11 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
FC Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-André Ter Stegen assured that they will go out onto the field of the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys to “give everything” to eliminate Napoli, with the 1-1 in the first leg in mind, and advance to the quarterfinals of the Champions League, something that makes them “excited”.
“The more we focus on football, the better it will be. If we start thinking about other things, we make mistakes as players. There is always the result, in the end. We all want to get through the phase and get into the next round. Let’s do our thing, We are going to give everything we can to get through the phase,” he said at a press conference.
“We now have good feelings, well deserved, after passing the group stage. We were happy, now we are eager to compete and play such a beautiful ‘Champions’ match. All the footballers want to hear this anthem and we are with very excited to play, we want the ending to be successful,” he added.
Ter Stegen, who wants to keep a clean sheet again and extend the “better stability” of recent games, believes that Naples has improved but assured that the Blaugranas must go their way, to focus on their football.
“The new coach was already there in the first leg and he had a few days to prepare for the game. They are a competitive team that wants to play with the ball, they have improved a lot in these weeks and nothing, we are going to do our thing. We are not It affects their change of coach, it affects us that we play football well,” he said.
He does not believe that any team is more favorite than the other, despite the field factor. “Due to the circumstances and having lost important players in the midfield, I think it is quite even. We have players who can make a difference and tomorrow will be the day to prove it,” he said.
“We played at home, we come from some games with good feelings, but in the last three games we did not concede and we are on a good streak and we hope to continue this line to get into the next phase,” he said. “We have what we have left of LaLiga and the ‘Champions’, we are going to fight for everything and we are going to give everything so that we are successful. I am looking forward to this match tomorrow,” he stated.
On a personal level, he acknowledged that he regrets as a player and as a friend that Xavi Hernández will leave the bench at the end of the season. “Knowing him for years, it felt bad to me. Because we are also responsible for these decisions. He told us that this does not stop and we know that we always have to give our best, even more so for him. He is a great coach, he has taught us made us reach this point again. Unfortunately he is leaving and it is difficult to accept it as a player and also as a friend,” he was honest.
But he is happy and proud to have reached 400 games with FC Barcelona. “I hope for many more games. I am proud to have worn this shirt 400 times and I hope there will be many more. When ‘Zubi’ (Andoni Zubizarreta, then sports director) signed me, we already talked about this and I am super happy and proud to defend this shirt “, he defended.
Asked about Iñaki Peña’s performances while Ter Stegen was injured, the German congratulated him. “He has done a great job, he gave us a lot of peace of mind. It is not easy to join a team without having played and put in good performances. He also played two ‘Champions’ games and we are here. This is always a team thing, but he did it very good,” he argued.
“Pau Cubarsí is doing a spectacular job, at his age. On a personal level he is always accessible, open to improving and working. He is at the beginning of his career and we all hope he continues like this,” he commented on the young youth center back, who could return to be a starter, this time in ‘Champions’. “He can still improve. It is time for him to play and accumulate many more minutes and from there we will wait for him to improve, he is in spectacular shape and we have to take advantage of it,” he added.
Finally, he assured that he would like to play for Blaugrana again in a ‘Champions’ final. “It is true that we have not reached any more finals. We are always very close and due to our own mistakes we have not reached this point to compete for one more ‘Champions’. I always stay with trying again and that one day it will come. Tomorrow is a good time to put ourselves in another situation. It is much more important to think about tomorrow’s game than the rest,” he added.