Something will have to give when Fenerbahçe SK and Chelsea FC meet in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final in Istanbul. Fenerbahçe have won all four home games in this season's competition while Chelsea remain one of only three clubs still unbeaten, but one of those runs will come to an end with the final whistle at the Sükrü Saraçoglu Stadium.
• For Fenerbahçe, appearing at this stage of Europe's élite club competition for the first time, a victory appears vital to their prospects of further progress given they have failed to record a single away win in this season's campaign. It will not be easy to achieve, however, against a Chelsea side appearing in their fifth UEFA Champions League quarter-final and hoping to put their greater experience to good effect as they target a fourth semi-final berth in five seasons.
• Fenerbahçe reached the quarter-finals by beating Sevilla FC 3-2 on penalties after a 5-5 aggregate draw in the first knockout round. They recorded a 3-2 first-leg home win against the Spanish side thanks to an 87th-minute strike from Semih Şentürk after earlier Fenerbahçe goals from Mateja Kežman (17) and Diego Lugano (57) had been cancelled out by Edu's own goal (23) and Julien Escudé (62).
• In the second leg in Seville, a double from Deivid (20, 79) kept Zico's team in contention after Sevilla had led 2-0 and then 3-1, through goals from Daniel Alves (5), Seydou Keita (9) and Frédéric Kanouté (41). Goalkeeper Volkan Demirel then emerged as the hero of the shoot-out, saving three of the home side's spot-kicks.
• Fenerbahçe had previously advanced to the knockout stages for the first time – and at the fifth attempt – after finishing second in Group G with a record of W3 D2 L1.
• Chelsea's progress has been considerably smoother. After winning Group B with a record of three wins and three draws, they overcame Olympiacos CFP 3-0 on aggregate in the last 16. Following a goalless first leg in Greece, Michael Ballack (5), Frank Lampard (25) and Salomon Kalou (48) secured a comfortable win in the return.
• Fenerbahçe's overall record against English clubs is P11 W3 D2 L6. Their most recent opponents from England were Newcastle United FC against whom they lost 1-0 in a UEFA Cup group stage game in October 2006.
• The last English visitors to the Sükrü Saraçoglu Stadium were Manchester United FC for a UEFA Champions League group stage fixture in December 2004. Fenerbahçe's 3-0 victory that evening – supplied by a hat-trick by Tuncay Şanlı, now of Middlesbrough FC – came after United's progress and their own elimination had already been confirmed.
• The Turkish side's only previous two-legged knockout tie against opposition from England in this competition was almost 40 years ago. Facing Manchester City FC in the first round of the 1968/69 European Champion Clubs' Cup, Fenerbahçe drew 0-0 at Maine Road then won 2-1 on home soil.
• Their record in other UEFA competitions is less good: Fenerbahçe suffered aggregate reverses against Aston Villa FC in the 1977/78 UEFA Cup first round and Arsenal FC in the 1979/80 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup first round.
• Chelsea recorded a famous 5-0 victory against Galatasaray AS on their only previous visit to Turkey in the group stage of the 1999/00 UEFA Champions League. Tor André Flo (2), Gianfranco Zola, Dennis Wise and Gabriele Ambrosetti were the scorers for the London side, who also won the home game 1-0.
• Chelsea also met Beşiktaş JK in the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League group stage, losing 2-0 at Stamford Bridge before winning the reverse fixture 2-0, a game that was played at the Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.
• Fenerbahçe forward Kežman spent 2004/05 with Chelsea, whom he joined in a €6.4m transfer from PSV Eindhoven. The Serbian scored four goals in 23 Premier League appearances but failed to find the net in nine UEFA Champions League outings. Besides collecting a Premier League winners' medal Kežman also tasted victory in the English League Cup, where he came off the bench to score Chelsea's third goal in a 3-2 final triumph against Liverpool FC.
• Chelsea's Nicolas Anelka played for Fenerbahçe from January 2005 until August 2006. He scored 14 goals in 39 league appearances for the club, collecting a Süper Lig winners' medal in 2005 and appearing in the 2006 Turkish Cup final, which Fenerbahçe lost 3-2 to Beşiktaş.
• Fenerbahçe attacker Kazım Kazım, featured on the losing side against Chelsea with former club Sheffield United FC when they went down 3-0 at Stamford Bridge on 17 March last year. Born in London but eligible to become a Turkish international because of his Turkish-Cypriot mother, Kazım also played for lower-league sides Bury FC and Brighton & Hove Albion FC in England, where he is known as Colin Kazim-Richards.
• Fenerbahçe defender Roberto Carlos was a member of the Real Madrid CF side defeated 1-0 by Chelsea in the UEFA Super Cup in Monaco in August 1998.
• As coach of Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC, Chelsea manager Avram Grant oversaw a 2-1 aggregate defeat by Fenerbahçe in the UEFA Champions League qualifying round in August 1996. Maccabi lost 1-0 at home before claiming a 1-1 draw in the return.
• More than one Chelsea player has happy memories of facing Fenerbahçe, notably Andriy Shevchenko who scored every goal of former club AC Milan's 4-0 win at the Sükrü Saraçoglu Stadium in the UEFA Champions League group stage on 23 November 2005. Two months earlier he had struck Milan's final goal in a 3-1 home win against the Turkish team.
• Michael Essien and Florent Malouda featured for Olympique Lyonnais when they beat Fenerbahçe 3-1 in Istanbul in October 2004 and again in a 4-2 home victory the next month, where both scored.
• Ballack played in the Bayer 04 Leverkusen team that beat Fenerbahçe 2-1 both at home and away in the UEFA Champions League first group stage in October 2001, scoring the winning goal in Germany.
• Chelsea defenders John Terry and Ashley Cole were part of the England team that qualified for UEFA EURO 2004™ after holding Turkey 0-0 at the Sükrü Saraçoglu Stadium in October 2003. Lampard also appeared in the match as a last-minute substitute.
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