GALATASARAY V LIVERPOOL: STAT ATTACK

Ged Rea 04 December 2006
All the relevant facts and figures ahead of Liverpool's Champions League return to Istanbul with LFC statistician Ged Rea.

GALATASARAY v LIVERPOOL

Liverpool's European Record (overall): Pld 266 Won 152 Drawn 58 Lost 56.

Liverpool's record in European Cup: Pld 135 Won 80 Drawn 29 Lost 26.

This is the Reds first return to the Ataturk Stadium since the 2005 European Cup Final. Of the men who played that night Djimi Traore, Milan Baros, Vladimir Smicer and Dietmar Hamann have all left Anfield while Djibril Cisse is out on loan. Harry Kewell has not played since the F.A.Cup Final last May. Unused subs Josemi, Antonio Nunez and Igor Biscan have departed while Scott Carson is on loan at Charlton.

Penalty shoot-out hero Jerzy Dudek has only played seven times for the Reds since Istanbul. This, should he play, will be his first European appearance since that night.

In the fixture between the sides at Anfield on Matchday Two Liverpool won 3-2 despite leading 3-0 just before the hour mark. Peter Crouch (twice) and Luis Garcia scored before half-time before the Turks replied with two from substitute Umit Karan.

Liverpool are one of 10 teams that have already qualified for the knock-out stages. The others are Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, PSV Eindhoven, Valencia, Lyon, Real Madrid, Celtic and AC Milan.

The Reds are guaranteed to finish the group on top courtesy of their win over PSV Eindhoven two weeks ago. By the same token Galatasaray will finish bottom of the group as they have drawn and lost to Bordeaux.

Should he play, Jamie Carragher will join Tommy Smith on 85 European appearances for the club. Only Ian Callaghan (89) has played more. Sami Hyypia and Ray Clemence come next on 80.

John Arne Riise two weeks ago became only the fourth player in the club�s history to play 50 games in the European Cup. The other men to reach the milestone are Phil Neal, who made 57 appearances, Jamie Carragher (54) and Sami Hyypia (53).

Liverpool have scored 15 hat-tricks in Europe down the years with the last coming in July 2005 when Steven Gerrard scored three against TNS at Anfield.

Liverpool have had nine players sent off in Europe. The last man to be red-carded was Igor Biscan in 2004 at Marseille.

Liverpool have lost just one of their last 13 away games in Europe. They have won six of 17 away games in the Group Stages drawing eight and losing three.