FCBARCELONA.CAT

10.04.2008 13:07

Touré Yaya boosted by win

Roger Bogunyà

Touré Yaya said that the win over Schalke 04 has boosted the team’s confidence and provided oxygen. But the Ivorian admits that it was anything but easy to deal with the Germans.

He was pleased with FC Barcelona’s reaction “after the first 15 minutes, which were difficult”, and felt that “it would have been better to have scored one, two or three more goals, but what counts is the win and being in the semi finals.” The Ivorian feels that being one step away from the final makes his colleagues “happy, more confident and gives us more oxygen to face up to the rest of the season.”

United strong up front

The team they will be meeting next is Manchester United, and Touré considers Sir Alex Ferguson’s side to be “the strongest of the teams that have reached this round … they have a lot of quality in attack.” He feels the Man United frontline to be “one of the most dangerous, with one of the best strikers in the world in Cristiano Ronaldo”.

“The League is not lost”

Meanwhile, he is convinced that the league hunt is not over yet and that “we want to win the seven games we have left and we are concentrating hard, with a lot of enthusiasm and determination after beating Schalke 04”. The midfielder thinks his team “has had bad luck this season and we have not won a lot of matches due to a lack of efficiency” citing Sunday’s draw with Getafe as an example.

Commitment from everybody

After what was said recently by Xavier Sala i Martin, Touré Yaya said he had heard what had been said, but that “no players have been put to one side” before adding that “we are all united and have a collective commitment”.