Wesley Sneijder confident of Galatasaray beating Chelsea

Galatasaray midfielder Wesley Sneijder has stated that the Turkish giants are ready for the challenge that Chelsea will pose in the last 16 of the Champions League this week.

Chelsea travel to Turkey this week to play the first leg of the knockout stages after narrowly beating Everton, but the Dutchman, Sneijder, is confident ahead of the tie as he knows how Jose Mourinho works.

Sneijder was a key figure under Mourinho when Inter won the treble back in 2010. The Portuguese coach led the Italians to the Serie A title, the Coppa Italia and the Champions League before heading to Real Madrid.

He said: “Mourinho knows us well and that is an advantage but the same applies for us, we know Mourinho very well, perhaps better than the Chelsea players know us.

“Chelsea is a great side, everybody has to accept that, but if we show the same spirit we did against Juventus, we could achieve another big result.”

Selcuk Inan is another of the opinion that the Turks can spring a surprise against Chelsea on Wednesday, with an intimidating atmosphere at the Turk Telecom Arena awaiting the visitors to Istanbul.

He said: “The way our fans support us when we’re on the pitch is a driving force which pushes us to give our best. They are like the 12th man.

“Our strength is that all our players have very powerful characters.

“If we really put our heart into what we do and reflect all our quality into the game, play with our strength of character, then there isn’t a single team we can’t beat.”