Galatasaray aim to press home advantage

Hamburger SV are preparing to feel the full force of Galatasaray AŞ's fearsome home support when the two teams meet in Istanbul, with their UEFA Cup Round of 16 tie delicately poised at 1-1.

• Ayhan Akman gave Galatasaray the lead in Hamburg, but Marcell Jansen replied after the break, with the visitors playing much of the second half with ten men following Emre Aşık's dismissal for a professional foul.

• The first leg was Hamburg and Galatasaray's first meeting in UEFA club competition.

• Hamburg have now played four games against Turkish sides in Europe, with the first three in the UEFA Intertoto Cup. Their record in those games reads P4 W2 D2 L0. Their only previous match in Turkey ended in a 2-2 draw at Trabzonspor in the 1999 UEFA Intertoto Cup.

• 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 P23 W6 D11 L6. Their record at home against German sides reads P10 W2 D7 L1, with that sole defeat a 1-0 loss against BV Borussia Dortmund in the 1997/98 UEFA Champions League group stage.

• Prior to the first leg, Hamburg coach Martin Jol had only been involved in one game against a Turkish club, when his Tottenham Hotspur FC side triumphed 2-0 at Beşiktaş JK in the 2006/07 UEFA Cup group stage.

• 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 Bülent 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 began 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 having been born in Hamburg.

• 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 Galatasaray'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 Jansen in the semi-finals of the same competition. Jansen also played in Germany's 2-1 friendly defeat by Turkey in October 2005.

• Jansen likewise featured 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 nine European games this season, 1-0 at home against Ajax in the UEFA Cup group stage.

• They have lost just once in their last eleven European away games, 1-0 at Bayer 04 Leverkusen in last season's Round of 16, and have won all of their away games in the UEFA Cup this season, scoring at least twice in each.

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

• The Turkish champions have lost just once in their last seven European home games, 1-0 against Metalist in this season's UEFA Cup group stage.

• Six-goal Olić is Hamburg's most dangerous marksman in Europe this season, though team-mate Petrić is snapping at his heels on five goals.

• Baroš is Galatasaray's top European goalscorer this season with four efforts, 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 UEFA Cup 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.

• Galatasaray's only UEFA club competition penalty shoot-out ended 4-1 in their favour against Arsenal FC in the final of the 1999/2000 UEFA Cup. The match had ended 0-0 after extra time.

• Hamburg's only UEFA club competition penalty shoot-out to date ended in defeat by Sparta Rotterdam, the German club losing 4-3 on spot-kicks after a 2-2 aggregate draw in the 1985/86 UEFA Cup first round.

• Galatasaray's Emre Aşık is suspended, while Lincoln and Barış Özbek are within a caution of a suspension. Milan Baroš is available again after serving a one-match ban.

• Hamburg's Jerome Boateng and José Paolo Guerrero are within a booking of a ban.

• 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.