Inter on a mission to avenge Trabzonspor upset

FC Internazionale Milano have recovered superbly well from the shock of losing to Trabzonspor AŞ on matchday one, winning their next three games. It means they approach the return fixture in Turkey with a four-point lead in Group B and are just one victory away from ensuring they finish top of the pool.

• Trabzonspor, in their debut season in the UEFA Champions League group stage, followed their stunning victory at San Siro – secured through Ondřej Čelůstka's late goal – with a 1-1 draw at home to LOSC Lille Métropole thanks to Gustavo Colman's second-half penalty. A 3-0 defeat at PFC CSKA Moskva halted their impressive early progress, a goalless draw in the matchday four return leaving the Turkish team third in the standings, level on points with CSKA.

• After that matchday one setback Inter began to put their campaign on the right road with a 3-2 win in Moscow, substitute Mauro Zárate striking late after the visitors let slip a 2-0 lead. Another away win followed, Giampaolo Pazzini scoring the only goal at Lille, and in the return against the French champions strikes in either half by Walter Samuel and Diego Milito paved the way for a 2-1 Inter win.

Previous meetings
• The clubs crossed paths in the 1983/84 UEFA Cup first round, Trabzonspor winning 1-0 at home thanks to Tuncay Soyak's late strike. Inter went through after a 2-0 home victory through goals from Alessandro Altobelli (48) and Fulvio Collovati (84) after Iskender Gönen's 51st-minute dismissal.

• The teams for the first leg, played in Trabzon on 14 September 1983 were:
Trabzonspor: Şenol Güneş, Turgay Semercioğlu, Necati Özçaglayan, Kemal Serdar, Osman Denizci, Hasan Vezir (Şenol Ustaömer 46), Güngör Sahinkaya, Tuncay Soyak (Ersoy Gökhan 88), Hasan Sengün, Levent Erköse, Iskender Gönen.
Inter: Zenga, Bergomi, G Baresi, Pasinato (Ferri 63), Collovati, Bini, Coeck, Marini, Altobelli, Müller, Sabato.

• Current Trabzonspor coach Şenol Güneş played in goal for the Turkish team in both games.

Match background
• Inter have won only one of their three other away games in Turkey – beating Adanaspor AS 3-1 in the 1981/82 UEFA Cup first round. They drew 0-0 at Beşiktaş JK in the 1987/88 UEFA Cup first round, winning 3-1 on aggregate, while their most recent visit was a 1-0 loss at Fenerbahçe SK in the UEFA Champions League group stage in September 2007.

• Before matchday one Trabzonspor had not taken on Italian opponents since 1999 when they lost 2-1 at home to AS Perugia in the UEFA Intertoto Cup third round. Their other home games against Serie A sides, both in the UEFA Cup, resulted in a 2-1 defeat in the 1994/95 third round against S.S. Lazio while the 1993/94 second round meeting with Cagliari Calcio ended 1-1.

• The two victories against Inter are Trabzonspor's only successes in eight matches against teams from Italy.

Team ties
• On 11 November a Poland team including Arkadiusz Głowacki and substitutes Adrian Mierzejewski and Paweł Brożek lost 2-0 at home to an Italy team for who Giampaolo Pazzini and Andrea Ranocchia started and Thiago Motta came on at half-time.

• Alanzinho and Júlio César played together in Brazil for CR Flamengo in 2003.

• Čelůstka spent six months on loan at US Città di Palermo in 2009/10, making his only appearance as a substitute in a 3-1 win against Emiliano Viviano's Bologna FC.