Levante scorer Campaña: "We'd been studying Ter Stegen"
The Levante midfielder explained after the Frogs' 3-1 victory over Barcelona that they had targeted the Germany keeper after watching videos of him.
Levante midfielder José Campaña spoke to reporters after his side’s 3-1 victory over Barcelona in the Ciutat de Valencia and explained that Paco López had placed particular emphasis on visiting goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen in his pre-match planning.
“I knew exactly what I had to do,” the 26-year-old said. “We had been watching videos of his performances and that was in my head when the ball came to me.”
Campaña equalized on 61 minutes with a shot drilled to Ter Stegen’s right and just two minutes later Borja Mayoral turned the game on its head with a very similar strike that also beat the Barça keeper, handing the Levante manager’s preparation plenty of kudos.
Campaña: "We knew we could turn it around"
The midfielder also said that he was unsure if Antoine Griezmann was offside for Barcelona’s opening goal, as he was when Leo Messi thought he’d made it 3-2 late on, but said that “[Nelson] Semedo seemed to control the ball with his hand” in the build-up to the penalty, which Messi duly dispatched. “It was a clear penalty,” Campaña admitted.
Of López’s half-time talk, Campaña added: “We knew that if we did the same thing as we had done in Anoeta we’d turn it around and that’s what happened. We were pretty even in the first half and although they went ahead it was close. We went for it and it worked out for us. If you don’t run yourself into the floor in this job it’s always difficult.”