• Opinion: Zidane, the flower and thistle

Fans who do not approach the game until a few minutes before its start will be surprised, as they will meet many players in the European Real Madrid lineup. Of very different nationalities, most are veterans and several of them have gone through the Spanish league, such as Falcao, Feghouli or Nzonzi .

The club

The 'Galata' has 22 national titles and surpasses the other two greats of the country: Fenerbahce (19) and Besiktas (15). They decorate their medal winners 18 Cups, 16 Super Cups, UEFA Cup 2000 and the European Super Cup that year, precisely against Real Madrid. In that team played Jardel (author of the two goals), Hakan Sukur, Gica Hagi, Popescu, Emre Belozoglu or Taffarel . The coach was the Romanian Mircea Lucescu , who had just replaced Fatih Terim .

Terim, the coach

With 66 years, Terim is now completing his fourth stage at the head of the team, where he is an institution for his more than 400 games played as a player and also more than 400 as a coach. Apart from that UEFA, the only continental trophy of Turkish football, he has won 16 trophies in his country. He also trained Milan, Fiorentina and the Turkish national team in three different stages.

1989 semifinals

Galatasaray has played 169 matches in the European Cup / Champions League. His best performance was the semifinals of 1989 and he also reached the quarterfinals five times, the last in 2013. In the Turkish league, after two bad seasons he has regained hegemony by conquering the last two titles. He already had a veteran squad: Uruguayan goalkeeper Muslera (33 years old), laterals Mariano (33, ex Sevilla) and Nagatomo (33, ex Inter), Moroccan Belhanda (29), Algerian Feghouli (29, ex Valencia) or Captain Selçuk Inan (34). This summer has incorporated several more: the Colombian Radamel Falcao (33, former Atleti), the Dutch Babel (32, former Depor) or the Frenchman Nzonzi (30, former Sevilla). Young people have also arrived, such as Séri or Lemina , with experience in the Premier, or Florin Andone (Deportivo) or Emre Mor (Celta).

Season with doubts

He has started the campaign with doubts, winning only in three of the first eight days. It is noteworthy that with such a veteran staff, the central couple is formed by two experts: the Congolese Luyindama (25) and the Brazilian Marcao (23). But the main handicap is being the lack of a goal: before the three goals achieved on Friday against Sivasspor, the team had six goals in seven days. Falcao is far from its best level and, for now, has not forgotten the last two battering rams: Gomis (2017) and Diagne (2018), both top scorers in the championship. That little aim has also accused her in the Champions League: 0-0 in Bruges and defeat 0-1 against PSG.

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