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BARCELONA

Griezmann confident Barcelona will reach Champions League final

Barcelona face Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals and Antoine Griezmann, expecting a long stay in Lisbon, has packed his PlayStation.

Griezmann confident Barcelona will reach Champions League final
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Antoine Griezmann is confident that Barcelona will go all the way to the Champions League final and quipped he has even packed his PlayStation for his stay in Lisbon.

Barça saw off Napoli 3-1 in Saturday's last-16 second leg to advance 4-2 on aggregate and set up a meeting with much-fancied Bayern Munich at the Estadio da Luz on Friday. Bayern have won 26 and drawn one of their last 27 competitive matches and are the favourites of many to win Europe's premier club competition but Griezmann says Barça are ready to knock the Bavarian giants out.

Just three games to get through

"I have the suitcase ready to be in Lisbon until August 23 - I have even brought the PlayStation," he told the club's official website. "We have three games left to win the Champions League but we have the tools to achieve it.  Every team has the potential to win a single match. We are looking forward to it, we have worked well tactically and we are ready to play the game. We know it will be difficult, but we know what we have to do to qualify for the semi-finals. It will be a very good match. We hope to take advantage of the quality we have. We are in a good moment and we can play a good game. We have to be together, up front and at the back, and try to have the ball as much as possible."

Prolific Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski either scored or assisted all seven of his side's goals in their 7-1 aggregate victory over Chelsea in the first knockout round. Griezmann acknowledged it will be tough to stop the Poland international and is well aware of the other attacking talents in the German champions' ranks.

Bayern not only about Lewandowski

"Bayern are playing very well, they have a great striker, but we also have the tools to play a great game. We have to look at our strengths and try to qualify," he said. "They're a very physical team that's used to having the ball. We have to make life difficult for them and play our game. Bayern are not just Lewandowski. The wingers get forward a lot, [Thomas] Muller, [Serge] Gnabry are also very good.  Lewandowski scores a lot of goals but the danger comes from anywhere."

Barça have disappointed domestically this season, finishing second to Real Madrid in LaLiga after being knocked out of the Copa del Rey at the quarter-final stage. However, the fit-again Griezmann - who lasted 84 minutes against Napoli - is adamant his side have showed signs of progress ahead of their showdown with Bayern.

"On a personal level it was good for me to have a few days to be able to recover and play against Napoli," he said. "In the first minutes of the Napoli game I had no rhythm but little by little I felt better. The team really wanted to play a great game, and we are on the right track."