Hamburg braced for Galatasaray visit

Hamburger SV are preparing to feel the full force of Galatasaray AŞ's immense German-based support when the two teams meet in the UEFA Cup Round of 16.

• Hamburg and Galatasaray are meeting for the first time in UEFA club competition.

• Hamburg have played three games against Turkish sides in Europe, all in the UEFA Intertoto Cup, with their record reading P3 W2 D1 L0. Their home games – against Samsunspor in the 1997 competition and Trabzonspor in 1999 – ended in 3-1 and 4-1 successes respectively.

• Having won 1-0 at Hertha BSC Berlin in the group stage – with the attendance swelled by members of the German capital's Turkish community – Galatasaray's record against Bundesliga opponents now reads P22 W6 D10 L6. Their eleven games in Germany have now earned them four wins, two draws and five defeats.

• Hamburg coach Martin Jol has only been involved in one game against a Turkish club, with his Tottenham Hotspur FC side winning 2-0 at Beşiktaş JK in the 2006/07 UEFA Cup group stage.

• This will be Galatasaray boss Bülent Korkmaz's first European away game since taking charge, though Cevat Güler is officially the club's coach as the former defender does not have the appropriate licence.

• Galatasaray have plenty of connections to Germany, with two Germans having been in charge of first-team affairs in the past 12 months: Karl-Heinz Feldkamp, who remains at the club in an advisory role, and Michael Skibbe, who was replaced by Korkmaz on 23 February 2009.

• No fewer than seven Galatasaray players were born in Germany:
– Serkan Çalik was born in Dinslaken and started his career with SC Rot-Weiss Essen.
– German Under-21 international Barış Özbek was born in Castrop-Rauxel and also started his career with Rot-Weiss Essen.
– Aykut Erçetin was born in Goppingen and started his career with VfB Stuttgart.
– Alparslan Erdem was born in Vechta and started his career with Werder Bremen.
– Volkan Yaman was born in Munich and started his career with TSV 1860 München.
– Hakan Balta was born in Berlin and started his career with Hertha.
– Ümit Karan was also born in Berlin and started his career with local Turkish side Türkiyemspor Berlin.

• The current Hamburg side also has Turkish connections, with their 18-year-old striker Tunay Torun having turned down an approach to play for Germany's Under-19 side in favour of Turkey's despite being born in Hamburg.

• Hamburg has a substantial Turkish community, with almost 60,000 Turkish citizens living in the city, according to recent figures.

• Hamburg goalkeeper Frank Rost and Galatasaray playmaker Lincoln were team-mates at FC Schalke 04 from 2004 to 2007.

• Hamburg defender Michael Gravgaard and Galatasaray midfielder Tobias Linderoth were team-mates at FC København from 2005 to 2007. Linderoth played in the København side that lost 2-1 on aggregate to Hamburg in the first round of the 2005/06 UEFA Cup.

• Former Beşiktaş and Fenerbahçe SK goalkeeper Özcan Arkoç also provides a strong connection between Hamburg and Turkey. Now 69, he played for Hamburg from 1967 to 1975 and later became the club's assistant coach - helping Kuno Klötzer's side win the 1976/77 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup - before taking sole command from 1977 to 1978.

• Hamburg's Ivica Olić and Mladen Petrić played in the Croatia team that lost out to a Turkey side featuring Galataray's Emre Aşık, Mehmet Topal, Hakan Balta, Sabri Sarıoğlu and Arda Turan on penalties in the UEFA EURO 2008™ quarter-finals. The teams drew 1-1 in Vienna, with Turkey winning 3-1 on penalties. Petrić had his spot-kick saved by Rüstü Reçber.

• Galatasaray's Mehmet Topal, Hakan Balta, Ayhan Akman and Sabri were also members of the Turkey side that lost 3-2 to a Germany team featuring Hamburg's Marcell Jansen in the semi-finals of the same competition. Jansen also played in Germany's 2-1 friendly defeat in Turkey in October 2005.

• Jansen also played in the Germany team that won 2-1 away to the Czech Republic in UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifying, with Galatasaray's Milan Baroš on the scoresheet for the hosts. Baroš was also on target as the Czechs beat Germany 2-1 at UEFA EURO 2004™ to knock them out of the competition at the group stage.

• Hamburg's Petrić and Galatasaray's Shabani Nonda have met in two previous European ties. Nonda's Blackburn Rovers FC beat Petrić's FC Basel 1893 3-0 in a 2006/07 UEFA Cup group-stage game, and both players scored once as Nonda's AS Roma overcame Petrić's Basel 3-1 at the same phase of the previous season's competition.

• Last season, Galatasaray were knocked out of the UEFA Cup Round of 32 by German opposition, losing 5-1 at Bayer 04 Leverkusen after drawing the home leg 0-0.

• Galatasaray are one of four sides left in the UEFA Cup who qualified for 2008/09 European competition as domestic league champions, the others being Aalborg BK (Denmark), FC Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine) and FC Zenit St. Petersburg (Russia).

• Galatasaray are also one of four clubs still in the competition to have won the UEFA Cup along with AFC Ajax (1991/92), PFC CSKA Moskva (2004/05) and Zenit (2007/08).

• Hamburg have lost only once in eight European games this season, 1-0 at home against Ajax in the UEFA Cup group stage, but have now won their last four UEFA Cup matches.

• That defeat against Ajax was Hamburg's only loss in their last 12 European home games, with the remaining fixtures ending in eight wins and three draws.

• Galatasaray are unbeaten in their last three UEFA club competition games since losing 1-0 at home against FC Metalist Kharkiv in the group stage.

• Cimbom have also not lost in their last four European away games, recording a draw and three wins since losing 1-0 at FC Steaua Bucureşti in the third qualifying round of this season's UEFA Champions League.

• Six-goal Olić is Hamburg's most dangerous marksman in Europe this season and the joint second highest scorer in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup along with Paris Saint-Germain FC's Péguy Luyindula, Stuttgart's Mario Gómez and SC Braga's Luis Aguiar. Team-mate Petrić is one of five players to have scored five goals in this season's edition.

• The suspended Baroš is Galatasaray's top European goalscorer this season with four goals, while team-mate Harry Kewell has scored three.

• Korkmaz is the only coach left in the competition to have won the UEFA Cup as a player, triumphing with his current side in the 1999/00 edition.

• Hamburg, fourth in the Bundesliga in 2007/08, topped Group F, and beat NEC Nijmegen comfortably in the Round of 32, winning 3-0 in the Netherlands and 1-0 at home.

• Galatasaray, for their part, came second in UEFA Cup Group B and beat FC Girondins de Bordeaux in dramatic style in the Round of 32, drawing 0-0 in France before prevailing 4-3 in Istanbul thanks to Sabri's late winner in Korkmaz's first game in charge.

• Hamburg have no immediate disciplinary concerns. Galatasaray's Baroš is suspended for the first leg, while team-mates Emre Aşık, Lincoln and Fernando Meira are within a booking of one-match bans. However, the latter will not feature, having been sold to FC Zenit St. Petersburg on Wednesday.

• The draw for the quarter-finals and semi-finals takes place in Nyon on 20 March, exactly two months before the final at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium – the home ground of Galatasaray's city rivals Fenerbahçe – in Istanbul on 20 May.