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Huntelaar unimpressed at Galatasary's Drogba and Sneijder signings
Feb 20, 2013 1:11:00 AM
The Netherlands forward is unconvinced the signings of the European stars have improved the standing of the Turkish giants and believes there are no clear favourites for the match
Schalke striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar says Galatasaray do not necessarily deserve more respect just because they have signed Didier Drogba and Wesley Sneijder.The ex-Chelsea forward completed a switch from Chinese outfit Shanghai Shenhua in January, while the former Inter star joined Galatasaray for a reported fee of €7.5 million in the same month.
However, ex-AC Milan forward Huntelaar is reluctant to praise the Istanbul side just because of the new signings.
"Of course they've strengthened themselves with [Wesley] Sneijder and [Didier] Drogba. However, I'm not sure if that led to more respect for them," the 29-year-old told reporters at the airport as his team prepared to travel to Turkey.
The Netherlands international has also stressed his belief that neither team are favoured to win the first-leg last-16 Champions League tie.
"It's not exactly like we consistently reach the finals or semi-finals [of the Champions League], so there is no clear favourite for this match.
"We always have respect for our opponents, but we will try to enforce our own game. We can't focus too much on the opponent, we have to focus on ourselves."
Huntelaar also said that he has sufficiently recovered from his eye injury he had picked up during Netherlands' 1-1 draw against Italy at the beginning of February, and is ready to play on Wednesday.
"My eye injury has almost fully healed," he added.
"I'm now ready to play football again."
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