Yilmaz honoured to compete with Ronaldo
Galatasaray's Burak Yilmaz is honoured to find himself amongst the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi on the Champions League top scorers list.
By ESPNSTAR.com staff
The 27-year old has been in impressive form in the Champions League, striking six out of Galatasaray's seven goals in the competition as the club booked their place in the last 16 two points behind Group H winners Manchester United.
Yilmaz's contributions have placed him alongside Real Madrid's Ronaldo as the top scorer of the current edition of the tournament, with Barcelona's Lionel Messi, Chelsea's Oscar and Braga's Alan trailing the duo by one goal.
Speaking to Sabah, Yilmaz revealed that he would gladly trade the honour of being one of the competition's highest scorers if it meant more success for Galatasary.
"I don't aim to be the top scorer in the Champions League. If I am, then it's great. But my purpose is to be successful as a team. I don't think about it as an individual,” Yilmaz shared.
"Messi and Ronaldo are the best players in the world and it feels good to compete against them. It's an honour but honestly, I'm not in a position to challenge them. I just feel good and will try to score as many goals as possible and continue to do good work."
Despite his notable conversion rate, the former Super Lig top scorer admitted that there were still detractors who did not consider him good enough to stand alongside Ronaldo and Messi.
"There will always be some critics of course but sometimes people need to support players like me," Yilmaz said.
"I've succeeded so much individually, some people just envy me."
Galatasaray have drawn Bundesliga side Schalke as their Champions League Round of 16 opponents and will contest the first leg of their tie on the 20th of February.