The Swiss midfielder expressed his delight on his side’s UEFA Champions League victory against the Greek champions in Piraeus, but stressed that they need to put in more effort if they want to qualify for the next round.
Schalke playmaker http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Tranquillo-Barnetta-c35516 suggested that discussions for the round of 16 in Europe’s elite cup competition are pointless at the moment, even though the Bundesliga outfit defeated the Greek Super League champions Olympiakos
2-1 in their away trip on Tuesday.
Schalke skipper Benedikt Howedes gave his team an early advantage in the first-half of their Champions League opener, but that did not last long as Djamel Abdoun equalised in the other half. Moreover, in-form striker Klaas-Jan
Huntelaar made sure that the Konigsblauen claim the maximum points by scoring the ultimate winner.
The result has pleased the http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Switzerland-c3016 international, who described the game as a very tough affair. The team captain stated that it is too soon to comment on what the club can achieve from the European competition this season.
He conceded that the team intends to perform well consistently and get the desired results.
"It's still very early in the competition to say what we can achieve," Barnetta was quoted as saying in an interview.
The 27-year-old announced that the triumph in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Greece-c2908 was crucial for them, but warned his team-mates to not think that they are guaranteed a spot in the knock-out stages. The versatile player was happy with the hard fought away
win and urged his side to take their chances in front of goal.
"We want to play at a high level consistently and take points. We have made an important step, but there is still a long way to go to achieving qualification,” he mused.
"We did what we set out to do against Olympiakos: win the match in a very intense atmosphere. We managed to score the opener, then had a very good chance to make it 2-0 but didn't. Afterwards, they equalised,” he finally concluded.
Schalke will next play French champions Montpellier on October 3.
Tags: