Frank de Boer Ajax Amsterdam coach said that the absence of
Lionel Messi the best player in the world will not affect the level of
Barcelona and called for his players to focus on the style of their play when
the two teams meet in the Champions League on Tuesday.
De Boer told reporters on Monday, "Even without Messi,
the Barcelona team is very strong."
And the Netherlands champion Ajax needs beat the Spaniard in
order to retain his hopes of qualifying for the knockout round for the eighth
group.
And Ajax collects four points and sets in third place behind
leader Barcelona with ten points and the second AC Milan has five points.
De Boer said, "The most important thing is to impose
our style of play ... if two teams
presented well, Barca has better players, but not necessarily the best team
win."
He added: "We will try to control over Barcelona but we
know that the task will not be easy."
De Boer mentioned that Barcelona plays more direct manner
under new coach Argentine Gerardo Martino than was the case under the
leadership of Pep Guardiola.
He said "The players want to get the ball faster and
may impact upon the Argentine school but our plans will remain unchanged ... We are now in a better position than we
were earlier."
Ajax finished second in the Eredivisie and lost 4 - zero
against Barcelona last September.
The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) chose the
referee Pavel Kralovic to manage Barcelona vs Ajax Amsterdam in the
Netherlands, and England, Martin Atkinson to match Zenit St Petersburg and
Atletico Madrid in Russia on Tuesday in the framework of the fifth round of the
role of the groups in the Champions League.
No comments:
Post a Comment