Galatasaray Vs Real Madrid Today At 7:45pm ; Preview & Stats

Galatasaray AŞ and Real Madrid CF begin a new UEFA Champions League campaign with memories still fresh of last season's quarter-final when the nine-time champions prevailed.

The opening fixture in the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League offers Galatasaray AŞ the chance of revenge over the side who ended their hopes in last season's quarter-finals. Real Madrid CF went on to depart in the semi-finals for the third successive season and the Spanish giants start again with the aim of lifting Europe's greatest club prize for a tenth time.

Previous meetings
• Last season's contest was effectively decided in the Madrid first leg with the home team easing to a 3-0 win courtesy of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gonzalo Higuaín.

• Ronaldo extended Madrid's advantage in the Istanbul return before a three-goal burst from Emmanuel Eboué (57), Wesley Sneijder (70) and Didier Drogba (72) gave Galatasary hope. Ronaldo's third of the tie in added time eased Madrid's progress to a 24th semi-final.

• The lineups at the Ali Sami Yen Stadium on 9 April 2013 were:
Galatasaray: Muslera, Eboué (Elmander 80), Gökhan Zan, Semih Kaya, Riera, Hamit Altıntop (Amrabat 46), Felipe Melo, Selçuk İnan, Sneijder, Umut Bulut (Sabri Sarıoğlu 63), Drogba.
Madrid: Diego López, Essien (Arbeloa 31), Varane, Pepe, Fábio Coentrão, Di María, Khedira, Modrić, Özil (Albiol 81), Ronaldo, Higuaín (Benzema 73).

• The clubs' three previous encounters all took place in 2000/01, starting with Galatasaray's 2-1 triumph in the UEFA Super Cup in Monaco. Although Raúl González's 79th-minute penalty cancelled out a Mário Jardel (41) spot kick, Jardel's second goal on 103 minutes secured Galatasaray a second European honour three months after their UEFA Cup triumph – a first for a Turkish team.

• Three players who took part in the UEFA Super Cup game are now part of Galatasaray's coaching staff: goalkeeper Claudio Taffarel and midfield duo Hasan Şaş and Ümit Davala.

• The same trio were also involved as a Galatasaray side coached by Mircea Lucescu made life awkward for Madrid in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals later that season. The games followed a similar course to last season's last-eight meetings, the Turkish side winning 3-2 in Istanbul. Iván Helguera (33) and Claude Makelele (43) put Madrid 2-0 up but Galatasaray responded through Ümit Davala's penalty (47), Hasan Şaş (66) and Jardel (75).

• Vicente del Bosque's Madrid shrugged off that loss with a 3-0 win back in the Spanish capital as Raúl (15, 37) and Helguera (28) took the defending champions through to a semi-final they would lose against FC Bayern München.

• Iker Casillas is the only survivor of those games 12 years ago.

• Last season's defeat of Madrid ended Galatasaray's 12-game winless run against Spanish sides – featuring four draws and eight losses – stretching back to their 2001 success against the Merengues