Lazio v Galatasaray background
Friday, February 19, 2016
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The tension levels are sure to be high in Rome as Lazio host Galatasaray fresh from a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League round of 32 tie.
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Both SS Lazio and Galatasaray AŞ will be hopeful of securing progress to the round of 16 after the UEFA Europa League rivals played out a 1-1 draw in Turkey.
• Sabri Sarıoğlu gave Galatasaray the best of starts in Thursday's round of 32 first leg when he struck his first European goal in seven years after 12 minutes, but the Biancocelesti soon responded via Sergej Milinković-Savić to leave everything to play for in Rome.
• The result meant that Lazio joined PAOK FC as the club with the most UEFA Europa League draws in total – 15.
Previous meetings
• In the 2001/02 UEFA Champions League group stage, Mircea Lucescu's Galatasaray overcame Dino Zoff's Lazio 1-0 at home but lost by the same scoreline in the reverse fixture to a Biancocelesti side coached by Alberto Zaccheroni.
• Lazio's 13 matches against Turkish sides have ended W6 D5 L2 (W3 D3 L0 at home).
• Galatasaray's record in 23 games against Italian clubs is W7 D9 L7 (W0 D5 L6 in Italy).
Form guide
• Lazio have won all four of their European home games this season, scoring three goals in each of the last three. They made it through the UEFA Europa League group stage unbeaten (W4 D2) after losing to Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the UEFA Champions League play-offs.
• Galatasaray are without a win in their last 11 continental away fixtures (D2 L9) since a 3-2 success at FC Schalke 04 in the 2012/13 UEFA Champions League round of 16.
• Lazio last reached the round of 32 in 2013/14, when they were eliminated by PFC Ludogorets Razgrad. In their most successful campaign in this competition, they went down 3-0 against FC Internazionale Milano in the 1998 UEFA Cup final.
• Galatasaray last played in the round of 32 in 2009/10, losing to Club Atlético de Madrid. Their best performance in this competition since beating Arsenal FC on penalties in the 1999/2000 UEFA Cup final is getting to the round of 16 in 2008/09.
Trivia and links
• The journey from Istanbul to Rome is just short of 1,400km.
• The game is taking place the day after Galatasaray defender Semih Kaya's 25th birthday.
• Galatasaray are one of five sides in the round of 32 who qualified for Europe this season as domestic champions. The others are: FC Basel 1893 (Switzerland), FC Midtjylland (Denmark), Molde FK (Norway) and Olympiacos FC (Greece), although Molde have since lost their title to Rosenborg BK.
• Galatasaray's Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera joined the club from Lazio in summer 2011, having won the Coppa Italia in 2008/09 and made 96 Serie A appearances.
• Galatasaray's Hamit Altıntop (2007–11) and Lukas Podolski (2006–09) played at FC Bayern München alongside Lazio's Edson Braafheid (2009–11) and Miroslav Klose (2007–11).
• Podolski and Galatasaray team-mate Wesley Sneijder have also played in Italy with Inter.
• Lazio striker Filip Djordjević and Galatasaray defender Lionel Carole spent the 2010/11 season together at French side FC Nantes.
The coaches
• A central defender, with Juventus and ACF Fiorentina among others, Stefano Pioli was appointed by Lazio in June 2014. He has been a coach in Italy's top two divisions since 2003, his clubs including home-town side Parma FC, AC Chievo Verona and most recently Bologna FC.
• Mustafa Denizli took charge of Galatasaray for a third time in November, replacing Hamza Hamzaoğlu. A forward for Altay GK and Galatasaray, he has won league titles with all three of the big Istanbul clubs (Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe SK and Beşiktaş JK) and led Turkey from 1996 to 2000.
Penalty shoot-outs
• Lazio have yet to feature in a UEFA penalty shoot-out.
• Galatasaray won their only previous UEFA penalty shoot-out:
W 4-1 N v Arsenal FC (1999/2000 UEFA Cup final)