Betting tip: 1

Galatasaray host Lokomotiv Moscow for the first time since 2003, and while the players are different, in a bizarre Champions League (CL) twist, both managers remain the same from that encounter 15-years ago. Fatih Terim is in his fourth stint as Galatasaray manager, but it was during his second spell that his team lost 2-1 to Lokomotiv here in the 2003/4 CL group campaign. Guiding the Russians to victory that day was Yuri Semin, who now returns to Istanbul for round two after rejoining Lokomotiv in 2016.

He will have a tough task. Galatasaray won 16 of 17 home league games last season (W16, D1), and have already won their first three home fixtures of the new campaign. Yet while this is the Turkish champions 15th CL group stage, European games aren’t their forte. Galatasaray have won just one of their last nine European home games (W1, D5, L3), and have never beaten Russian opponents in Istanbul in four attempts (D3, L1). Luckily they face a team that hasn’t won an away CL game in their last ten (D4, L6) – in fact Lokomotiv’s last CL win on the road was against Galatasaray in 2003.

Domestically the Russian champions are also struggling, picking up nine points from a possible 21 so far (W2, D3, L2), and have lost five of their last eight top-flight away games (W2, D1, L5).

Statistics:

Galatasaray home: W (4-1 vs Kasimpasa) W (6-0 vs Alanyaspor) W (1-0 vs Goztepe) D (1-1 vs Akhisar Genclik Spor) L (1-2 vs Valencia)

Lokomotiv Moscow away: L (2-1 vs Krasnodar) W (0-1 vs FK Krylya Sovetov Samara) L (1-0 vs Orenburg) D (0-0 vs Ufa) L (3-0 vs Vitesse)

Head-to-Head:

Galatasaray 1 : 2 Lokomotiv Moscow (29.10.02)