Anderlecht v Galatasaray background

RSC Anderlecht and Galatasaray AŞ occupy the bottom two places in Group D and meet at the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium hoping against hope that they can claw back the deficit on second-placed Arsenal FC.

• The teams drew 1-1 in Istanbul on matchday one, Dennis Praet putting Anderlecht ahead and Galatasaray levelling in added time through Burak Yılmaz.

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 Brussels on 20 October 1976 were:
Anderlecht: Ruiter, Broos, Thissen, Dockx, Vandendaele, Van der Elst, Haan, Vercauteren, Ressel, Coeck, Rensenbrink.
Galatasaray: Nihat Akbay, Tekin Güngör, Ali Yavaş, Kilic Ömer, Fatih Terim, Mehmet Özgül, Bülent Ünder, Mehmet Oğuz, Şevki Şenlen, Zafer Dinçer, Gökmen Özdenak.

Match background

Anderlecht
• On matchday two the Belgian champions lost 3-0 at home to Borussia Dortmund and followed that with a 2-1 reverse at home to Arsenal. They went 3-0 down in the London return before Anthony Vanden Borre staged a recovery with two goals. Aleksandar Mitrović then headed a last-minute equaliser.

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

• In those six seasons, Anderlecht have won just four fixtures and when they beat FC Zenit 1-0 on matchday four in 2012/13 it was their first home success in the UEFA Champions League proper in nine years.

• Anderlecht have lost just once at home to Turkish opponents, a 2-0 reverse against Fenerbahçe SK in the 2007/08 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round.

• They have won three of the other four encounters, scoring five each time. Overall their record against Turkish opponents is W5 D3 L3.

Galatasaray
• On matchday two Galatasaray lost 4-1 at Arsenal and also conceded four in going down at home (0-4) and away to Dortmund (1-4). They are bottom of the table with just one point.

• Cimbom have lost their last five UEFA Champions League away games, and six of the last seven. The other, at Juventus on matchday two last season, ended 2-2.

• Galatasaray had previously met only one other Belgium side in European competition. They lost 3-1 at Club Brugge KV in the 2002/03 first group stage, drawing 0-0 at home.

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

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

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

• Players to have played together at club level:
Steven Defour & Sinan Bolat (R. Standard de Liège, 2009–12 and FC Porto, 2013/14)
Gohi Bi Zoro Cyriac & Sinan Bolat (Standard, 2009–12)
Jean Ouassiero & İbrahim Coşkun (AJ Auxerre B, 2012–14)

• 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 had found the net in Turkey's 3-2 win when the sides met in Istanbul on 7 September 2010.

Match facts

Anderlecht
• Anderlecht slipped to second in Belgium on Saturday as a surprise 3-1 loss at mid-table R. Charleroi SC allowed Club Brugge KV to leapfrog them at the summit.

• Ibrahima Conté scored his first goal for Anderlecht in the Belgian champions' 2-0 win at KAA Gent on 9 November.

• Fabrice N'Sakala suffered knee ligament damage in training on 3 September and has not featured since. Defour has not played since picking up a calf injury against KSC Lokeren OV on 1 November.

• Bram Nuytinck sustained a toe injury on matchday one. He returned on 1 October against Dortmund but has not played since.

• Praet made his senior debut for Belgium on 12 November in the Red Devils' 3-1 friendly win against Iceland.

• On the same day, Youri Tielemans and Nathan Kabasele scored for Belgium Under-21s as they defeated Spain 4-1. Kabasele was also on target in a 4-0 success against Norway on 17 November.

• Matías Suárez, troubled by a left knee complaint, has been advised to rest rather than undergo surgery.

Galatasaray
• Blerim Dzemaili serves a one-game ban on matchday five. Felipe Melo is a yellow card away from a suspension.

• Galatasaray suffered their fourth defeat by a three-goal margin or more in six outings with a 3-0 home loss to Trabzonspor AŞ on Saturday.

• Galatasaray conceded four goals in a game for the fourth time this season when they lost 4-1 in Dortmund.

• Fernando Muslera has not kept a clean sheet in his last 14 appearances for club and country.

• Umut Bulut scored the decisive goal for the second successive league match as Cimbom recorded a 2-1 win at Kardemir Karabükspor on 8 November.

• Prandelli's team will play Eskişehirspor, Diyarbakır BB and Balçova Yaşamspor in the Turkish Cup group stage. Fixtures will be played between 3 December and 4 February.

• Wesley Sneijder scored in the Netherlands' 3-2 home friendly loss to Mexico on 12 November.

• Two goals from Burak helped Turkey to a 3-1 victory against visitors Kazakhstan in UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying on 16 November.