Chelsea plot Fenerbahçe comeback

Chelsea will try to successfully overturn a first-leg deficit in the UEFA Champions League for only the second time when they welcome Fenerbahçe SK to Stamford Bridge for the second leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final.

• Avram Grant's men go into the match trailing 2-1 after Fenerbahçe triumphed in Turkey on 2 April but they can at least take heart from an unbeaten home record in European competition dating back 26 months. During that time Chelsea have played ten UEFA Champions League matches in London – winning seven and drawing three of them.

• The recent away record of Zico's team in the competition does not inspire too much confidence given that, qualifying rounds apart, they have lost five and drawn two of their last seven matches their last victory coming against AC Sparta Praha in November 2004. Moreover, they suffered a 6-2 reverse when they last played a UEFA Champions League match on English soil.

• Seeking a first semi-final appearance in any UEFA competition, Fenerbahçe owe their advantage in the tie to second-half goals from substitute Kazım Kazım (65) and Deivid (81), who struck to undo the damage of the latter's 13th-minute own goal.

• The teams for the first leg were:
Fenerbahçe: Volkan Demirel, Önder Turacı, Lugano, Edu, Gödçek Vederson, Claudio Maldonado, Mehmet Aurélio, Uğur Boral (Kazım Kazım 54), Deivid, Alex, Mateja Kežman (Semih Şentürk 72).
Chelsea: Carlo Cudicini, Michael Essien, John Terry, Ricardo Carvalho, Ashley Cole, Claude Makelele, Joe Cole (Nicolas Anelka 86), Michael Ballack, Frank Lampard (John Obi Mikel 76), Florent Malouda, Didier Drogba.

• This is the eleventh time Chelsea have gone into a second-leg tie in Europe trailing. In six of the ten previous instances, they fought back to win.

• In the UEFA Champions League they mounted a successful comeback against FC Barcelona in the 2004/05 first knockout round, winning 4-2 at Stamford Bridge after a 2-1 loss in Spain.

• However, they failed to recover after losing their first-leg matches against Barcelona in the 2005/06 first knockout round and AS Monaco CF in the 2003/04 semi-final.

• Chelsea are unbeaten at home in this season's UEFA Champions League, having defeated FC Schalke 04 and Olympiacos CFP and drawn with Rosenborg BK and Valencia CF.

• Chelsea's last loss at Stamford Bridge in Europe's premier club competition came in February 2006 when Barcelona won 2-1 in that aforementioned first knockout round tie.

• Fenerbahçe have yet to win away on their travels in this season's competition, discounting a 2-0 victory at RSC Anderlecht in the third qualifying round. In the tournament proper, they have recorded draws against PFC CSKA Moskva and PSV Eindhoven and defeats against FC Internazionale Milano and Sevilla FC.

• Chelsea's progress to the last eight has been smooth. After winning Group B with a record of three wins and three draws, they overcame Olympiacos in the last 16. Following a goalless first leg in Greece, they won 3-0 in the return.

• Fenerbahçe reached the quarter-finals by beating Sevilla 3-2 on penalties after a 5-5 aggregate draw in the first knockout round. They had previously advanced to the knockout stages for the first time – and at the fifth attempt – after finishing second in Group G with a record of W3 D2 L1.

• Chelsea have welcomed Turkish opposition to Stamford Bridge twice before. They beat Galatasaray AS 1-0 with a Dan Petrescu goal in the group stage of the 1999/00 UEFA Champions League, then lost 2-0 to Beşiktaş JK at the same stage of the 2003/04 competition, Sergen Yalçin scoring both goals.

• Fenerbahçe's record in England reads: P6 W1 D1 L4 F3 A13.

• Their most recent visit to England brought a 1-0 defeat at Newcastle United FC in the UEFA Cup group stage in October 2006. In the UEFA Champions League, they were last in England for a 6-2 reverse against Manchester United FC in the 2004/05 group stage.

• The Turkish side's only victory on English soil came in October 1996 in a UEFA Champions League group stage match at Manchester United. Elvir Bolić scored the only goal after 79 minutes.

• Fenerbahçe's only previous two-legged knockout tie against opposition from England in this competition was almost 40 years ago. Facing Manchester City FC in the first round of the 1968/69 European Champion Clubs' Cup, Fenerbahçe drew 0-0 at Maine Road then won 2-1 on home soil.

• Their record in other UEFA competitions is less impressive: Fenerbahçe suffered aggregate reverses against Aston Villa FC in the 1977/78 UEFA Cup first round and Arsenal FC in the 1979/80 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup first round.

• Fenerbahçe forward Mateja Kežman spent 2004/05 with Chelsea, whom he joined in a €6.4m transfer from PSV Eindhoven. The Serbian scored four goals in 24 league appearances but failed to find the net in nine UEFA Champions League outings. Besides collecting a Premier League winners' medal Kežman also tasted victory in the English League Cup, where he came off the bench to score Chelsea's third goal in a 3-2 final triumph against Liverpool FC.

• Chelsea's Nicolas Anelka played for Fenerbahçe from January 2005 until August 2006. He scored 14 goals in 39 league appearances for the club, collecting a Süper Lig winners' medal in 2005 and appearing in the 2006 Turkish Cup final, which Fenerbahçe lost 3-2 to Beşiktaş.

• Fenerbahçe attacker Kazım Kazım, featured on the losing side against Chelsea with former club Sheffield United FC when they went down 3-0 at Stamford Bridge on 17 March last year. Born in London but eligible to become a Turkish international because of his Turkish-Cypriot mother, Kazım Kazım also played for lower-league sides Bury FC and Brighton and Hove Albion FC in England, where he is known as Colin Kazim-Richards.

• Fenerbahçe defender Roberto Carlos was a member of the Real Madrid CF side defeated 1-0 by Chelsea in the UEFA Super Cup in Monaco in August 1998.

• As coach of Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC, Chelsea manager Avram Grant oversaw a 2-1 aggregate defeat by Fenerbahçe in the UEFA Champions League qualifying round in August 1996. Maccabi lost 1-0 at home before claiming a 1-1 draw in the return.

• More than one Chelsea player has happy memories of facing Fenerbahçe, notably Andriy Shevchenko who scored every goal of former club AC Milan's 4-0 win at the Sükrü Saraçoglu Stadium in the UEFA Champions League group stage on 23 November 2005. Two months earlier he had struck Milan's final goal in a 3-1 home win against the Turkish team.

• Michael Essien and Florent Malouda featured for Olympique Lyonnais when they beat Fenerbahçe 3-1 in Istanbul in October 2004 and again in a 4-2 home victory the next month, where both scored.

• Ballack played in the Bayer 04 Leverkusen team that beat Fenerbahçe 2-1 both at home and away in the UEFA Champions League first group stage in October 2001, scoring the winning goal in Germany.

• Chelsea have contested one penalty shoot-out previously in Europe, losing 4-1 to Liverpool in last season's UEFA Champions League semi-final.

• Fenerbahçe's 3-2 win on spot-kicks against Sevilla FC – featuring three saves from goalkeeper Volkan Demirel - was their first penalty shoot-out in European club competition.

• Chelsea are within reach of two goalscoring milestones. The Londoners have scored 199 goals in all UEFA club competitions and 98 in the UEFA Champions League, excluding qualifying rounds.