Felipe Melo insists Galatasaray can beat Juventus at the Türk Telekom Arena.
After losing 4-1 against Real Madrid, Roberto Mancini’s side must defeat the Bianconeri to progress into the Champions League knock-out stages.
Melo, who has been capped 22 times by Brazil, insists Galatasaray always expected this scenario.
“The defeat doesn’t make things more complicated for us,” insisted the midfielder. “Whether or not Madrid beat us, we were going to have to beat Juventus in the last game in order to get through.
“Everything will now be decided on home turf against Juve. We have beaten Madrid in the past so why can’t we now beat Juventus?”
The defeat against Real Madrid was especially frustrating as the home side were forced to play with ten men for 65 minutes, following the dismissal of Sergio Ramos.
Melo believes, however, Real are equally as hard to beat with ten or eleven men.
“What happened in the second half was that we played against Real Madrid,” he continued.
“Whether with one more player or one less, they are always Real Madrid. Beforehand, we said that any lapse in concentration would prove fatal.
“We had the game in our hands but with the errors we committed, they punished us.”
Melo joined Galatasaray from Juventus in July for €3.5 million. He had spent the previous two campaigns on loan at the Turkish club.
In the reverse fixture, Galatasaray held Juventus to a 2-2 draw. Didier Drogba gave the visitors the lead, before goals from Arturo Vidal and Fabio Quagliarella swung the tie in Juve’s favour. Umut Bulut, however, snatched a point with two minutes remaining.
