Fenerbahçe on alert for Twente visit
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Article summary
Fenerbahçe SK will look to get their UEFA Europa League Group H campaign off to a positive start when FC Twente make their first trip to Turkey on Matchday 1.
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Fenerbahçe SK will look to get their UEFA Europa League Group H campaign off to a positive start when FC Twente make their first trip to Turkey on Matchday 1.
Previous meetings
• Fenerbahçe have never met Twente before, but they can take comfort from some decent results against previous Dutch visitors. Their record in four home games against Eredivisie sides during the past decade reads W2 D1 L1.
Match background
• Fenerbahçe reached the round of 32 in their only UEFA Cup group stage campaign three seasons ago, going out to Twente's local rivals AZ Alkmaar on away goals, drawing 3-3 at home and 2-2 away.
• Twente also reached the first knockout round in their only UEFA Cup group stage campaign last term, losing 7-6 on penalties to Olympique de Marseille after trading 1-0 home defeats.
• Fenerbahçe have scored in all but one of their last 19 UEFA club competition home games, a 0-0 draw against FC Dynamo Kyiv in last season's UEFA Champions League group stage interrupting that run. They have not lost in six UEFA Europa League/UEFA Cup home games since going down 1-0 to Real Zaragoza in the 2004/05 round of 32.
Team facts
• German coach Christoph Daum this summer returned from 1. FC Köln for a second spell as Fenerbahçe coach. Celebrated in Germany for winning three Bundesliga runners-up slots with Bayer 04 Leverkusen, he twice coached Fener's local rivals Beşiktaş JK before claiming two titles in his first spell at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium between 2003 and 2006.
• Daum's best European season to date came in his first spell as Köln coach, when his side reached the semi-finals of the 1989/90 UEFA Cup, losing out to Juventus.
• Twente coach Steve McClaren went a step further with his Middlesbrough FC side, who were losing UEFA Cup finalists in 2005/06.
• Once Sir Alex Ferguson's assistant at Manchester United FC, McClaren's reputation was undermined by a disappointing spell as England manager when his team missed out on UEFA EURO 2008™. However, he demonstrated his coaching acumen when Twente finished second in the Eredivisie last season, his first in the Netherlands.
• McClaren's assistant Kees van Wonderen played against Fenerbahçe with Feyenoord in a 2002/03 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round tie, the Rotterdam club prevailing 1-0 at home and 2-0 in Turkey.
• Twente's Danish midfielder Kenneth Perez faced Fenerbahçe twice in the 2007/08 UEFA Champions League group stage with PSV Eindhoven. His side drew 0-0 at home, before going down 2-0 at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium.
• Twente will be at home to FC Steaua Bucureşti on Matchday 2, while Fenerbahçe face a trip to FC Sheriff on the same night, 1 October.