Istanbul awaits champions' rematch

Matchday 1 has thrown up a spectacular opening-night fixture in Group B with the champions of Turkey and Greece meeting in Istanbul, as Michael Skibbe's Galatasaray AŞ play host to Ernesto Valverde's Olympiacos CFP.

• The two clubs have met before, having been drawn together in the group stage of the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League, with Galatasaray winning 1-0 in Istanbul and Olympiacos triumphing 3-0 in the corresponding game in Greece.

• Cihan Haspolatlı, who now plays for Konyaspor, scored the only goal in the first fixture after nine minutes.

• The team lineups for that game on 21 October 2003 were:
Galatasaray: Faryd Mondragón, Bülent Korkmaz, Frank de Boer, Arif Erdem (Ovidiu Petre), João Batista, Hakan Şükür, Ayhan Akman, Cihan Haspolatlı, César Prates (Hakan Ünsal), Sabri Sarıoğlu (Suat Usta), Ergün Penbe.
Olympiacos: Juraj Buček, Stelios Venetidis, Christian Karembeu, Ieroklis Stoltidis (Pantelis Kafes), Nery Castillo (Giorgos Georgiadis), Giovanni, Predrag Djordjević, Dimitris Mavrogenidis (Alekos Tatsis), Paraskevas Antzas, Tasos Pantos, Giorgos Anatolakis.

• Dimitris Mavrogenidis and Nery Castillo scored to put Olympiacos 2-0 up by half-time in the second game, with Giovanni poaching a third in added time after Galatasaray's Ayhan Akman and Olympiacos's Predrag Djordjević had been dismissed.

• The lineups for that match a fortnight later were:
Olympiacos: Fanis Katergiannakis, Stelios Venetidis, Christian Karembeu, Ieroklis Stoltidis, Nery Castillo (Pantelis Kafes), Giorgos Georgiadis (Andreas Niniadis), Giovanni, Predrag Djordjević, Dimitris Mavrogenidis (Athanasios Kostoulas), Paraskevas Antzas, Giorgos Anatolakis.
Galatasaray: Faryd Mondragón, Bülent Korkmaz, Orhan Ak, Frank de Boer, Hakan Şükür, Hasan Şaş, Ayhan Akman, Cihan Haspolatlı (Elvir Baljić), Ovidiu Petre, César Prates (Sabri Sarıoğlu), Ergün Penbe (Mabula Lukunku).

• Neither side progressed to the knockout stage in that campaign, though Galatasaray finished above Olympiacos in third to move in to the UEFA Cup.

• Aside from those games against Olympiacos, Galatasaray have played only one other match against a Greek side, winning 3-0 at Panionios GSS in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup group stage.

• Those games against Galatasaray represent Olympiacos's only experience of Turkish opposition. They were drawn to play against Beşiktaş JK in the preliminary round of the 1958/59 European Champion Clubs' Cup, but withdrew from the competition.

• This will not be the first time that Olympiacos coach Valverde has come up against Turkish opposition. He was the coach of Athletic Club Bilbao when they met Trabzonspor in the first round of the 2004/05 UEFA Cup. The Black Sea club beat Athletic 3-2 at home but the Spanish side advanced with a 2-0 victory in Bilbao.

• Galatasaray lost 3-2 on aggregate to FC Steaua Bucureşti in the third qualifying round of this season's UEFA Champions League, then beat Switzerland's AC Bellinzona 6-4 overall to reach the UEFA Cup group stage.

• Anorthosis Famagusta FC ended Olympiacos's UEFA Champions League dream this season, winning 3-1 over two legs, but a 7-0 aggregate defeat of Denmark's FC Nordsjælland put them into the UEFA Cup group stage.

• Galatasaray's Harry Kewell and Olympiacos's Sebastian Leto were team-mates at Liverpool FC last season.

• Hertha BSC Berlin take on SL Benfica in Matchday 1's other Group B game. FC Metalist Kharkhiv are the only side in the section not in action on 23 October.