Galatasaray out to trample Sion dream

Galatasaray SK are determined to snuff out FC Sion's hopes of a UEFA Cup upset as home fans return to the Ali Sami Yen Stadium after an eight-week absence.

Silent stadium
Despite being ordered to play five domestic home matches behind closed doors as a punishment for crowd problems, Karl-Heinz Feldkamp's side have found a rich vein of form in the Süper Lig, a 2-1 win in Saturday's 'silent derby' against Beşiktaş JK confirming their place atop the table. However, a potentially early exit from European competition threatens to put an early dampener on their season.

Welcome back
A 3-2 defeat at Sion in the first leg of the Turkish side's UEFA Cup first round tie has left their progress to the group stage in doubt. Yet with a home crowd set to man the terraces again for the first time since 30 August, German coach Feldkamp is hoping the Istanbul atmosphere serves his side well. "For eight weeks we have wanted our fans to watch good football and now want them to back our team," he said.

Error-strewn display
An error-strewn display in Switzerland saw Galatasaray lose but, with Sion on a poor run, Feldkamp is confident his side can turn things around. "Sion lost their last two matches," he said. "That is a mark of their current form. Our mistakes in the first eight minutes of the first leg lost us the match. I have never seen such a display from my team. As long as we don't repeat such things, we can get the score we want. We have to play wiser."

Bigon task
Albertino Bigon, meanwhile, will be well aware that a massive task faces his side. The Sion coach has been told in no uncertain terms that his job hangs by a thread following a run of poor league results. To make matters more difficult, his squad has also been rocked by midfielder Adel Chedli's decision to leave the club following the weekend's 2-0 defeat against FC Aarau.

Coaching ultimatum
"We can only pray that things will be better for us at Galatasaray", said club chairman Christian Constantin. "We saw in the first leg what this team is capable of. Should they show a similar performance in Istanbul, it would be proof that the recent performances were not the coach's fault. Should they play as lethargically as they did against Aarau, we would be forced to act."