Galatasaray looking to check Benfica's charge

SL Benfica have begun strongly in Group C with maximum points from their two games and Galatasaray AŞ, who have gained just one point so far, need to keep in touch on matchday three.

Previous meetings
• The teams met in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup group stage when Emre Aşık and Ümit Karan struck in Galatasaray's 2-0 away victory. Luisão played in that contest.

• The lineups at the Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica on 6 November 2008 were:
Benfica: Quim, Maxi Pereira, Luisão, Sidnei, Jorge Ribeiro, Di María, Katsouranis, Yebda (Carlos Martins 64), Reyes (Aimar 57), Nuno Gomes (Óscar Cardozo 60), Suazo.
Galatasaray: De Sanctis, Sabri Sarıoğlu, Servet Çetin, Emre Aşık, Hakan Balta, Lincoln, Fernando Meira, Ayhan Akman, Arda Turan (Volkan Yaman 90+3), Baroš (Mehmet Güven 81), Ümit Karan (Yıldız 84).

Match background

Galatasaray
• Cimbom's only other encounter with Portuguese opposition came in the 2012/13 UEFA Champions League group stage. They lost 2-0 at home to SC Braga, winning 2-1 in the reverse fixture when Burak Yılmaz was on the scoresheet.

• The Turkish double winners, who are in their 14th group stage campaign and their fourth in succession, started this season with a 2-0 home defeat by Club Atlético de Madrid and then drew 2-2 at FC Astana.

• At home in last season's group stage Galatasaray drew 1-1 with RSC Anderlecht, followed by a 4-0 defeat against Borussia Dortmund. They also lost 4-1 at home to Arsenal FC to finish bottom of Group D.

• They have not won in Europe in ten matches, although they have lost only six of their last 22 European home matches.

• Cimbom's best performance came in 1988/89 when they reached the European Champion Clubs' Cup semi-finals.

Benfica
• Competing in their 11th UEFA Champions League group stage, Benfica began with a 2-0 home victory over Astana and then beat Atlético 2-1 away.

• In 2012/13 they edged out Fenerbahçe (0-1 away, 3-1 home) in the UEFA Europa League semi-finals but then lost 2-1 to Chelsea FC in the final.

• Benfica's record in nine games against Turkish clubs is W4 D2 L3 (W0 D2 L2 in Turkey).

• The Portuguese champions lost two of their away games in last term's group stage and drew the other 0-0 at AS Monaco FC. They finished fourth in Group C with five points.

• Those two defeats are the only reverses in Benfica's last nine European away fixtures.

• In only one of their last seven UEFA Champions League campaigns (2011/12) have the Eagles qualified for the knockout rounds. That year, eventual champions Chelsea beat them 3-1 overall in the quarter-finals.

Coach and player links
• Turkey were 3-1 winners in a Lisbon friendly on 2 June 2012, their first victory against Portugal in 57 years. Four Galatasaray players – Selçuk İnan, Hamit Altıntop, Burak and Umut Bulut – were involved, Umut scoring twice.

• Lukas Podolski scored past Júlio César in the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League group stage as FC Bayern München won 2-0 at FC Internazionale Milano. 

• Have played together:
Fernando Muslera and Eliseu (SS Lazio, 2009/10)
Wesley Sneijder and Júlio César (Inter, 2009–12)
Lionel Carole and André Almeida (SL Benfica B, 2012/13)
Carole and Jardel (SL Benfica, 2010/11 – SL Benfica B, 2012/13)
Carole and Luisão (SL Benfica, 2010/11)

Match facts

Galatasaray
• Burak came off the bench and scored a penalty three minutes later in Saturday's 4-1 win against Gençlerbirliği SK, his first appearance since sustaining a hamstring injury against Trabzonspor AŞ on 19 September.

• Deputising for the injured Burak, Umut rounded off the scoring in Galatasaray's 2-0 win at İstanbul Başakşehir on 3 October.

• Aurélien Chedjou (out since 29 August, thigh) made his comeback in that match.

• Sabri Sarıoğlu scored the only goal as Galatasaray defeated Greek Super League strugglers Panthrakikos FC in a friendly on 10 October. Emre Çolak missed a penalty.

• Hakan Balta (summer 2018) and Sneijder (2017) signed two-year contract extensions earlier this month.

• Hamit has resumed light training, having undergone a left knee operation in early August.

• Podolski suffered an ankle injury while on international duty with Germany but started on Saturday.

• Selçuk converted a penalty against the Czech Republic (2-0) on 10 October and then scored an 89th-minute free-kick at home to Iceland three days later that qualified Turkey for UEFA EURO 2016 as the best third-placed team.

Benfica
• Jardel and Andreas Samaris are a booking away from a ban.

• Benfica's Liga match away to CF União da Madeira on 4 October was postponed because of fog.

• Nélson Semedo fractured his right knee during his Portugal debut on 11 October – a 2-1 UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying victory against Serbia – but completed the 90 minutes. Benfica have not announced how long he will be sidelined for.

• Gonçalo Guedes, 18, scored one and set up two in Portugal's 4-0 win away to Greece in 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying on 13 October.

• Injured on the final day of the 2014/15 campaign, Eduardo Salvio underwent right knee surgery on 9 September.