Marta relishing Wolfsburg challenge
Having recovered from a muscle injury during the preseason, Marta Torrejón was the starting right back against Atlético Madrid, as Barça ensured passage into the Champions League semi-finals. Next up is Wolfsburg on Tuesday in San Sebastián, and the defender spoke to Barça TV about her expectations.
"This team is ready to play every three four days. We have been out of action for a very long time, but we’ve had a fine preseason and have been preparing for a full month for this exciting competition and are 100% ready for Tuesday.”
"I expected a tough game against Atlético. We suspected it would be a tight game, with them waiting for counter attacks and not too much happening, and they sent on a fast forward for the final minutes who created them some chances. We played patiently, kept pushing and got the all-important goal and that’s why we are still here.”
"Accuracy in the final metres is going to be very important against Wolfsburg. We’ve done well in the preseason but competition is a different matter entirely. We have to improve these things, learn from mistakes, because we are up against a difficult opponent and need to be 100%".
"We need to take things up a notch in every respect: attack, defence, tactics, technique. We have to fine-tune the details and be totally ready for the game.”
"Caro [Graham Hansen] will help to give us some tips.”
"That game against Wolfsburg was my first year here [2013/14]. Some others are left from that game. It was a very hard away game. There was a bit of a gap, but not much, between the teams back then. They were one of the top teams in Europe and we’d only just turned professional. We didn’t create many chances but we fought and worked hard. We knew it would be difficult and we lost 3-0 and 2-0 but it wasn’t bad for us. We knew we needed to do some catching up and we’ve been doing that since then.”
"We are closer to them. We have been working very hard in recent years and that shows. Of course, anything can happen in one game. We are really looking forward to playing one of the best teams in Europe.”
"I wouldn’t call it fear, it’s more a case of respect for a strong opponent. These are games to be enjoyed and taken advantage of. Very few people get to play games like these. So we are really excited about it.”