Ghana international Thomas Partey has said that the Black Stars need more than just expertise in order to end their long wait for the African Cup of Nations. The West African nation have failed to win the competition in the past 37 years but they are hopeful of breaking the rut when Africa’s best collide in Egypt this summer.
Speaking to reporters, Partey, who is currently with Atletico Madrid at the club, said that the team require skills, luck and unity, if they are to make a strong case to win the continental competition, he said: “To win a tournament like AFCON sometimes quality alone is not enough. We have to be able to sacrifice and go the extra mile and with that and a little bit of luck, I am sure we will emerge victorious. Unity and working for each other will be vital because we have got the quality of players already so we all have to on the same page. This will be my second major tournament with the team so it's hard to tell what has been wrong in the past but we need to be united.”
Ghana international Thomas Partey has urged his teammates at Atletico Madrid to end the season on a high. The Spanish outfit are nine points behind leaders Barcelona at the top of the league standings and their prospects of winning the title seems improbable unless the Blaugrana suffer a string of shock defeats.
As such, it is pretty much confirmed that the Catalan giants will be crowned the Spanish champions in a few weeks’ time but Partey does not want the same to hamper his team’s performances, he said: “We want to win the games that we have left. We always go strong and we are happy with the victory. Now we have to think about the next match against Valencia on Wednesday against our fans. We have to win our games because we only have to be up if we win. That’s why we try to win all the games to add all the possible points until the end.”
Ghana international Thomas Partey has said that the eight-match ban given to Diego Costa seems unfair. The Atletico Madrid striker was handed a straight-red card during the recent league defeat to Barcelona on the roadafter he was found bad-mouthing about the mother of referee Jesus Gil Manzano.
As such, La Liga sanctioned an eight-game suspension for the Spain international, but his teammate Thomas believes the punishment is unfair and Atletico should appeal against the decision, he said: “I just heard it, I think it's too much. I think it's too much, it isn't fair and I hope we talk to them and they lower their sanction, because of the circumstances. Everything depends on the occasion and everyone has their own ways of doing things, maybe he has not acted well here, but for me, there are too many games for him and for the whole team.”
