Key events
Galatasaray lost their opening Champions League fixture 5-1 at Eintracht Frankfurt; Liverpool won theirs 3-2 at home to Atletico Madrid. On the other hand, Cimbom have won all seven of their Turkish Super Lig fixtures so far, while Liverpool have just lost their first Premier League game of the season, snapping a run of five wins, at Crystal Palace. And then Galatasaray have lost only three of their last 18 home European games, winning ten and drawing five, while Liverpool have won 13 of their last 14 Champions League group/league matches. So depending on which way you turn, there’s a stat that’ll make a good case for either team winning tonight. Something’s got to give. Draw?
Preamble
The last time Liverpool played Galatasaray away, in the Champions League group stage in December 2006, they sent out a team that featured Gabriel Paletta, Danny Guthrie and Lee Peltier. They lost 3-2, Robbie Fowler with both of their consolations. To be fair, it was a dead rubber, with Rafael Benitez’s team having already won their group, the Turkish side already knocked out, and Liverpool went on to reach the final. But that did happen.
Liverpool’s only other game away at Galatasaray was also in the Champions League, in February 2002. They drew that one 1-1, Jari Litmanen setting up Emile Heskey, part of a campaign that looked highly promising until Gerard Houllier inexplicably took off Didi Hamann in the quarter-finals against Bayer Leverkusen … but that’s a topic for another day. Anyway, it all means Liverpool are still searching for their first away victory over Gala. Will that quest end tonight? We find out from 8pm UK time onwards. It’s on!
