After the draw at Camp Nou last week, FC Barcelona travel to Istanbul in Turkey to play the return leg on Thursday of the Europa League last 16 tie against Galatasaray.
After the 0-0 draw at Camp Nou, Barcelona thrashed Osasuna in the league match for four goals. The Turkish side also won the league match for a score of 2-1 against Besiktas.
Barcelona’s most recent trip to Galatasaray ended in a 2-0 win during the 2002-03 Champions League group stage, with Xavi playing 75 minutes of that contest.
Barca head into the second leg, having only conceded one goal in their last four games across all tournaments and won each of their last three away from home – and not since 2004 have the La Liga giants been dumped out at this stage of Europe’s second-tier competition.
Key Stats:
Galatasaray have only won one of their previous nine meetings with Barcelona across all competitions (D3 L5), with that lone victory coming in November 1994 in the UEFA Champions League (2-1). Since then, they have been winless in the five such meetings, drawing two and losing three.
This will be the fifth time Barcelona have faced Galatasaray away from home in European competition (W2 D1 L1) and the first since a 2-0 win in September 2002, a game in which current manager Xavi started for the Catalan side.
Barcelona have progressed from seven of their last eight ties in the UEFA Cup/Europa League Last 16, with their only elimination at this stage coming in 2003-04 (0-1 on aggregate v Celtic).
Team News:
Galatasaray SK: Ryan Babel is doubtful for the tie after picking up an injury in the first leg. Ex-Barcelona attacker Arda Turan is expected to miss out on a reunion with his former club due to injury, while Kaan Arslan, Halil Dervisoglu, Ismail Cipe, Baris Yilmaz and Alpaslan Ozturk were not involved at the weekend either.
Omar Elabdellaoui was given the nod at right-back against Besiktas, but Sacha Boey should return to the same defence, which kept a clean sheet at Camp Nou in the first leg.
FC Barcelona: Ansu Fati, Sergi Roberto and Samuel Umtiti have not travelled to Istanbul because of injuries, while Dani Alves has been left out of Barcelona’s squad for the Europa League.
Gerard Pique is a doubt after picking up a knock against Osasuna. So we may see Ronald Araujo and Eric Garcia start again, as in the first leg, to allow the 35-year-old as much recovery time as possible ahead of El Clasico.
Galatasaray vs Barcelona – Possible starting line-ups
Galatasaray possible starting line-up: Pena; Boey, Marcao, Nelsson, Van Aanholt; Antalyali, Kutlu; Kilinc, Feghouli, Akturkoglu; Mohamed
Barcelona possible starting line-up: Ter Stegen; Dest, Araujo, Garcia, Alba; Pedri, Busquets, De Jong; Traore, Aubameyang, Torres
