Johan Neeskens speaks on the teams he and Coach Frank Rijkaard will be facing in the 2007/08 Uefa Champions League.


More reactions have come in from FC Barcelona officials concerning the champions League draws which have just been made. The latest reactions come from Johan Neeskens, who spoke on the draws and aired his views similar to what Txiki said earlier. The Dutch legend and vice-coach at FC Barcelona was informative about the potentials of ach team in the Group E of the Champions League, where Barcelona have been grouped:

Lyon are a strong and consistent side who have been the French champions of the last few years. They're no easy teams in this group, and Lyon play very well particularly at their own ground. For our French players, this will be a good tie, as they'll be eager to put in two good performances. They'll prove a tough rival. Stuttgart is an extremely tough opponent and, as a German club, it's very difficult to win on their pitch. In addition, they've signed Ewerthon, Mario Gomez and Cacau this season. These are all quality players. Against Stuttgart we'll need to give a hundred percent so that problems don't befall us. Rangers are a team that have been playing very well lately. They're top of their league, and are difficult to face away due to the special atmosphere at their stadium. They play a physical game with long balls and we'll need to concentrate hard.

Despite the fact that FC Barcelona were the top seed of the group, Neeskens dismises the favourites tag which the press have already started placing on Barca:

Favourites or not is of no help to us. It doesn't change anything. Indeed in all of Europe, I'm sure that they consider us group favourites. But it's still going to be far from easy. In order to make the next round, we'll have to play like a team, and give one hundred precent. But it is great that we don't have to travel many kilometers and flight hours. In addition, we don't have to go to Eastern countries like Russia, meaning we don't suffer from extreme weather and cold.