Galatasaray v Anderlecht background

Cesare Prandelli's first UEFA Champions League match since taking charge of Galatasaray AŞ is a home fixture against RSC Anderlecht as Group D gets under way.

Previous meetings
• The teams' only previous meeting came in the 1976/77 European Cup Winners' Cup second round, when Anderlecht won 5-1 in Brussels and then repeated the scoreline in the away leg.

• The lineups in Istanbul on 3 November 1976 were:
Galatasaray: Nihat Akbay, Müfit Erkasap, Ali Yavaş, Engin Tuncer, Fatih Terim, Mehmet Özgül, Bülent Ünder, Mehmet Oğuz, Şevki Şenlen, Zafer Dinçer, Gökmen Özdenak.
Anderlecht: Ruiter, Broos, Thissen, Dockx, Vandendaele, Van der Elst, Haan, Vercauteren, Ressel, Coeck, Rensenbrink.

Match background

Galatasaray

• Galatasaray have met only one other Belgian side in European competition. They were beaten 3-1 on aggregate by Club Brugge KV, drawing 0-0 at home, in the first group stage of the 2002/03 UEFA Champions League.

• Last season, Galatasaray began with a 6-1 home defeat by Real Madrid CF and have not won any of their last four opening-night fixtures. Galatasaray recovered, winning their two other home games in the group – against FC København and Juventus – to reach the knockout rounds.

•  Despite losing 3-1 on aggregate to Chelsea FC after a 1-1 home draw, Cimbom have lost only three of their last 18 European home games.

• The Turkish Super League runners-up named former Italy coach Prandelli to succeed compatriot Roberto Mancini in July.

• They are in their 13th group stage campaign and their third in succession, having missed out in the five seasons before that.

Anderlecht

• Anderlecht's record in Turkey is W2 D1 L2. Overall against Turkish opponents it is W5 D2 L3.

• Anderlecht are in the group stage for the third successive year – the first time in eight years that they have achieved that feat – and the 11th time in all.

• Last year they finished fourth in their group, with just a single point from their matchday four away draw against Paris Saint-Germain.

• The Belgian champions have finished bottom in all seven group stage campaigns since they reached the last 16 (qualifying for the second group stage) in 2000/01.

• In nine away matches in the competition proper since a 1-0 success at Real Betis Balompié in their last match of the 2005/06 group stage, Anderlecht have had five draws and four defeats.

Player links
• Prandelli was in the Juventus side beaten 4-2 on aggregate by Anderlecht in the 1981/82 European Champion Clubs' Cup second round.  

• Anthony Vanden Borre made his Belgium senior debut against Turkey on 28 April 2004. At 16 he was the second-youngest player ever to represent his country.

• Players who have played together at club level:
Steven Defour and Sinan Bolat (R. Standard de Liège, 2009–12 and FC Porto, 2013/14)
Cyriac and Sinan Bolat (Standard, 2009–12)

• Burak Yılmaz scored in Turkey's 1-1 draw with Belgium in a UEFA EURO 2012 qualifier in Brussels on 3 June 2011. Hamit Altıntop found the net in Turkey's 3-2 win when the sides met in Istanbul on 7 September 2010.

Match facts

Galatasaray

• Cesare Prandelli began his tenure as Galatasaray coach with a penalty shoot-out loss to Fenerbahçe SK in the Turkish Super Cup on 25 August.

• Winger Olcan Adın, a summer signing from Trabzonspor AŞ, scored on his league debut for Cimbom in a 2-0 opening-day win at Bursaspor.

• Galatasaray defeated their Under-21 team 4-1 in a friendly during the international break.

• Wesley Sneijder received personal training from Dutch-Turkish kickboxer Gökhan Saki while on his summer break.

• Galatasaray will play away from home following each of their UEFA Champions League games this season. Last term the Istanbul club dropped points, 15 in total, in six of their eight post-European matches, seven of which were on the road.

• Semih Kaya (torn right calf) withdrew from the Turkey squad for their opening UEFA EURO 2016 qualifier against Iceland.

Anderlecht

• Fabrice N'Sakala and Silvio Proto serve one-game bans on matchday one.

• Anderlecht are eight games unbeaten in 2014/15. They began the campaign with a last-minute 2-1 Belgian Super Cup victory over KSC Lokeren OV on 20 July.

• Anderlecht are seven games unbeaten away from home – Belgian Super Cup included – winning four.

• Matías Suárez was fit enough to start this season after missing the last seven months of 2013/14 with cruciate ligament damage.

• Anderlecht lost 11 of their 23 away games in all competitions last season.

• Anderlecht won their 33rd title last season, their third in a row. It meant a championship in Besnik Hasi's first campaign as a head coach.

• Anthony Vanden Borre and N'Sakala signed contract extensions this summer tying them to the club until summer 2018. Vanden Borre has not featured this season after suffering a torn calf at the FIFA World Cup.

• Youri Tielemans and substitute Nathan Kabasele scored in Belgium Under-21s' 6-0 victory over Cyprus on 5 September, with Dennis Praet also starting.