Galatasaray, who made it to the Round of 16 “undefeated” from UEFA Europa League Group E, will face Spain's world-famous club Barcelona in this stage. The encounter of two distinguished clubs in Europe, which has its roots in the past and lives with its values, will be the scene of historical moments.

The match, which will be played on Thursday, March 10 at Camp Nou, will start at 23.00. Benoit Bastien of the French Football Federation will be the head referee of the match. Hicham Zakrani and Aurelien Berthomieu will be his assistants. The fourth referee will be Jeremie Pignard.

One of Barcelona’s slogans is 'Más que un club'. In other words “More than a club”. Galatasaray is always more than a club in world football with its successes by keeping its deep-rooted tradition and set of values ​​alive in sports.

DEMOCRACY, HUMANISM…

Founded in 1899 by a group of foreigners living in Barcelona, ​​the founder of Barcelona is Swiss Hans Gamper. Gamper, who has served as president, athlete and manager in Barcelona, ​​has been involved in the club in the past 25 years. He founded Barcelona Football Club organization with friends such as Otto Kunzle, Walter Wild, John Parsons, William Parsons, Otto Maier, Lluís d'Ossó, Bartomeu Terradas, Enric Ducal, Pere Cabot, Carles Pujol and Josep Llobet. Their purpose is to create a club structure that is open to everyone regardless of nationality, where everyone could express their thoughts with their free will and which is managed freely. Values ​​such as Catalan identity, democracy and humanism formed the meaning of Barça under the leadership of Gamper.

PASSAGE OF LEGENDS: CRUYFF, HAGI, POPESCU…

The name Johan Cruyff means a lot to Barcelona, ​​which is known for the stars it puts on the stage. During the presidency of Agustí Montal Costa, the idea came up to ​​bring in a star player that everyone would like his football, in order to turn the team's bad luck. Johan Cruyff, who swept Europe with Ajax jersey at that time, was considered the best football player in the world. Cruyff's signing for Barcelona on 13 August 1973 was also an historical importance for the club. The Dutch star became a milestone with his understanding of football in the club where he served as a football player and coach. The architect of Barcelona's world-renowned football has developed and carried by Johan Cruyff’s philosophy to this day.

While the paths of Barcelona and Galatasaray have crossed many times in history on the green field, perhaps the most important of them was on the road to UEFA victory in 2000, when we opened a new era in the history of Turkish football. Undoubtedly, one of the biggest milestones of this victory was the presence of a world star like our legend Gheorghe Hagi and an important defender in the character of Gheorghe Popescu in our squad. Transferred from Brescia to Barcelona on July 1, 1994, Gheorghe Hagi went through the training of Johan Cruyff during the two years he played here, and after two years he transferred to Galatasaray and achieved historical success in our club. Popescu played successfully in the Catalan team between 1995-1997. He achieved the honor of “Captain” in Barça and than became an important part of the team that re-wrotes history in Galatasaray. 

Gheorghe Hagi; in an interview where he mentioned Cruyff, “My idol was Johan Cruyff. I was proud when he told me that I was his favorite “number 10” in the 90s. I loved the great team of Ajax in the 70's.”

Cruyff who passed away on March 24, 2016, shook the world football.

A NEW PAGE WITH XAVI HERNANDEZ

Barcelona has started the new season with a new structure by young players like Galatasaray. The Catalans, who usually choose their coaches from within their community, continued the season with Ronald Koeman. In addition to the fluctuating course in the league, the start of the Champions League groups with two heavy defeats, weakened the power of the Dutch coach. Barcelona appointed legendary football player Xavi Hernandez in the middle of the season and added two important stars such as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Adama Traore to their squad. Reaching a visible height of form with the arrival of Xavi, Barça got 8 wins, 4 draws in 13 matches in La Liga and was defeated only once. Barcelona, ​​which gained a new identity under the leadership of the former football player who earned the respect of the world, is currently shown among the most fit teams in Europe.

XAVI'S TEACHER RIJKAARD

Following the end era of the legendary football man Johan Cruyff's coaching in Barcelona, ​​the Catalans, who continued on their way with the English coach Bobby Robson, entrusted the task to the Dutch coaches with the thought of continuing the Cruyff philosophy after Robson. The periods of Louis van Gaal and Frank Rijkaard were the markers of this path. 2003-2004 Rijkaard, who started his duty in Barcelona, experienced one of the most spectacular periods in Barcelona and started to make its weight felt once again on the European stage. Lionel Messi, who left his mark on world football, started to be played in the A team during his time. Having won a Champions League title, 2 La Liga and 2 Spanish Super Cup titles, Rijkaard resigned from his position in 2008 and signed with Galatasaray. Another Barcelona player, Giovani dos Santos, was transferred to our team on loan during Rijkaard's term, who worked in Galatasaray in the 2008-2009 season.

FROM THE GIANTS LEAGUE TO THE EUROPEAN LEAGUE

Starting with the 3-0 defeats of Bayern Munich and Benfica in the UEFA Champions League group, Barcelona could not compensate for these losses in the following period. They finished third in the group and remained in the play-off stage of the UEFA Europa League. Matching with Napoli, one of the Serie A teams of Italy, Barça tied 1-1 in the first match at Camp Nou, and eliminated their opponent with a score of 4-2 by putting forward a superior performance in Italy.

The results of Barça on the European stage this season are as follows:

Barcelona 0-3 Bayern Munich

Benfica 3-0 Barcelona

Barcleona 1-0 Dynamo Kyiv

Dynamo Kyiv 0-1 Barcelona

Barcelona 0-0 Benfica

Bayern Munich 3-0 Barcelona

Barcelona 1-1 Naples

Naples 2-4 Barcelona

ACADEMY FACTOR

Barcelona, ​​one of the most distinguished clubs in European history, has 26 La Liga championships, 5 UEFA Champions League championships, 3 FIFA World Cup championships and 31 Spanish King's Cup successes.

Barcelona's biggest success is the world star names whom steps up from its academy. Barcelona Academy, which has one of the most active infrastructures in the world, brought a world star like Lionel Messi into football. Lionel Messi made his mark in history as the club's top scorer in the Catalan team, which experienced the brightest periods in its history with names such as Gerard Pique, Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez and Sergio Busquets, who came out of the same academy. Messi made his mark as Barcelona's all-time top scorer with 474 goals in 520 official matches in Barcelona. Messi transferred to Paris Saint-Germain in the 2021-2022 summer transfer season with an emotional farewell ceremony.

AGAIN AFTER 20 YEARS

The two giants of Europe, Galatasaray and Barcelona, ​​met four times in the same group at the Champions League level. Five Barcelona wins, two draws and one Galatasaray win in eight matches were out. Lastly, the Catalan team, which faced Galatasaray in the Champions League Group H in the 2002/2003 season, came to Istanbul on September 24, 2002. Barça won this match played in Ali Sami Yen with a score of 3-0.

KEREM AKTÜRKOĞLU – THE WIZARD

Our young football player Kerem Aktürkoğlu was one of our players who attracted attention with his performance in the Europa League. Kerem Aktürkoğlu, the Galatasaray player who took the most accurate shots in the Europa League groups (6) and hit the ball in the opponent's penalty area (18) this season, is also the player who gives the most shot passes in the running game (6).

Galatasaray (3W 3D), which did not lose the last six matches it played in the European cups, experienced a longer streak in 13 matches between October 1999 and September 2000 (excluding the pre-qualifications).

A SPECIAL MATCH

The two-legged match with Barcelona in the UEFA Europa League will have a special meaning for our coach Doménec Torrent and his technical team. Torrent, who served in Barcelona for years in the team of world-famous coach Pep Guardiola, will this time be in charge against his old club. Ricard Segarra, who is the goalkeeper coach in Torrent's team, also served in Barcelona's technical team for years. On the other hand, Iñaki Peña, who we added to our squad on loan from Barcelona, ​​will play against Barça if he is given a task.

Arda Turan, one of our captains, is among those who pass through Barcelona. After his successful years in Atletico Madrid, Arda has transferred to Barcelona in the 2015-2016 season and successfully represented our country here until January 2018. Arda Turan, who scored 15 goals and 11 assists in 55 games in Barcelona, ​​made history by scoring a hat-trick in the Borussia Mönchengladbach match played by Barcelona in the Champions League Group C in the 2016-2017 season. He became the third Turkish player to score a hat-trick in the Champions League.

Arda Turan won 1 La Liga title, 2 Spanish Cup titles and 1 Spanish Super Cup title in Barcelona.

UNDEFEATED AND LEADER IN THE GROUP

Galatasaray, which achieved good results in the UEFA Europa League this season with its young staff and the energy it showed; came out as undefeated and the leader of the group, which included strong teams such as Marseille , Lokomotiv Moscow and Lazio. Galatasaray, which draws attention by closing its goal in the away matches, will face Barcelona as one of the most successful teams of the UEFA Europa League groups.

Galatasaray will play its first leg match on Thursday, March 10 at Camp Nou. The return match will take place on Thursday, March 17 at the Ali Sami Yen Sports Complex.

Galatasaray, who made it to the Round of 16 “undefeated” from UEFA Europa League Group E, will face Spain's world-famous club Barcelona in this stage. The encounter of two distinguished clubs in Europe, which has its roots in the past and lives with its values, will be the scene of historical moments.

The match, which will be played on Thursday, March 10 at Camp Nou, will start at 23.00. Benoit Bastien of the French Football Federation will be the head referee of the match. Hicham Zakrani and Aurelien Berthomieu will be his assistants. The fourth referee will be Jeremie Pignard.

One of Barcelona’s slogans is 'Más que un club'. In other words “More than a club”. Galatasaray is always more than a club in world football with its successes by keeping its deep-rooted tradition and set of values ​​alive in sports.

DEMOCRACY, HUMANISM…

Founded in 1899 by a group of foreigners living in Barcelona, ​​the founder of Barcelona is Swiss Hans Gamper. Gamper, who has served as president, athlete and manager in Barcelona, ​​has been involved in the club in the past 25 years. He founded Barcelona Football Club organization with friends such as Otto Kunzle, Walter Wild, John Parsons, William Parsons, Otto Maier, Lluís d'Ossó, Bartomeu Terradas, Enric Ducal, Pere Cabot, Carles Pujol and Josep Llobet. Their purpose is to create a club structure that is open to everyone regardless of nationality, where everyone could express their thoughts with their free will and which is managed freely. Values ​​such as Catalan identity, democracy and humanism formed the meaning of Barça under the leadership of Gamper.

PASSAGE OF LEGENDS: CRUYFF, HAGI, POPESCU…

The name Johan Cruyff means a lot to Barcelona, ​​which is known for the stars it puts on the stage. During the presidency of Agustí Montal Costa, the idea came up to ​​bring in a star player that everyone would like his football, in order to turn the team's bad luck. Johan Cruyff, who swept Europe with Ajax jersey at that time, was considered the best football player in the world. Cruyff's signing for Barcelona on 13 August 1973 was also an historical importance for the club. The Dutch star became a milestone with his understanding of football in the club where he served as a football player and coach. The architect of Barcelona's world-renowned football has developed and carried by Johan Cruyff’s philosophy to this day.

While the paths of Barcelona and Galatasaray have crossed many times in history on the green field, perhaps the most important of them was on the road to UEFA victory in 2000, when we opened a new era in the history of Turkish football. Undoubtedly, one of the biggest milestones of this victory was the presence of a world star like our legend Gheorghe Hagi and an important defender in the character of Gheorghe Popescu in our squad. Transferred from Brescia to Barcelona on July 1, 1994, Gheorghe Hagi went through the training of Johan Cruyff during the two years he played here, and after two years he transferred to Galatasaray and achieved historical success in our club. Popescu played successfully in the Catalan team between 1995-1997. He achieved the honor of “Captain” in Barça and than became an important part of the team that re-wrotes history in Galatasaray. 

Gheorghe Hagi; in an interview where he mentioned Cruyff, “My idol was Johan Cruyff. I was proud when he told me that I was his favorite “number 10” in the 90s. I loved the great team of Ajax in the 70's.”

Cruyff who passed away on March 24, 2016, shook the world football.

A NEW PAGE WITH XAVI HERNANDEZ

Barcelona has started the new season with a new structure by young players like Galatasaray. The Catalans, who usually choose their coaches from within their community, continued the season with Ronald Koeman. In addition to the fluctuating course in the league, the start of the Champions League groups with two heavy defeats, weakened the power of the Dutch coach. Barcelona appointed legendary football player Xavi Hernandez in the middle of the season and added two important stars such as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Adama Traore to their squad. Reaching a visible height of form with the arrival of Xavi, Barça got 8 wins, 4 draws in 13 matches in La Liga and was defeated only once. Barcelona, ​​which gained a new identity under the leadership of the former football player who earned the respect of the world, is currently shown among the most fit teams in Europe.

XAVI'S TEACHER RIJKAARD

Following the end era of the legendary football man Johan Cruyff's coaching in Barcelona, ​​the Catalans, who continued on their way with the English coach Bobby Robson, entrusted the task to the Dutch coaches with the thought of continuing the Cruyff philosophy after Robson. The periods of Louis van Gaal and Frank Rijkaard were the markers of this path. 2003-2004 Rijkaard, who started his duty in Barcelona, experienced one of the most spectacular periods in Barcelona and started to make its weight felt once again on the European stage. Lionel Messi, who left his mark on world football, started to be played in the A team during his time. Having won a Champions League title, 2 La Liga and 2 Spanish Super Cup titles, Rijkaard resigned from his position in 2008 and signed with Galatasaray. Another Barcelona player, Giovani dos Santos, was transferred to our team on loan during Rijkaard's term, who worked in Galatasaray in the 2008-2009 season.

FROM THE GIANTS LEAGUE TO THE EUROPEAN LEAGUE

Starting with the 3-0 defeats of Bayern Munich and Benfica in the UEFA Champions League group, Barcelona could not compensate for these losses in the following period. They finished third in the group and remained in the play-off stage of the UEFA Europa League. Matching with Napoli, one of the Serie A teams of Italy, Barça tied 1-1 in the first match at Camp Nou, and eliminated their opponent with a score of 4-2 by putting forward a superior performance in Italy.

The results of Barça on the European stage this season are as follows:

Barcelona 0-3 Bayern Munich

Benfica 3-0 Barcelona

Barcleona 1-0 Dynamo Kyiv

Dynamo Kyiv 0-1 Barcelona

Barcelona 0-0 Benfica

Bayern Munich 3-0 Barcelona

Barcelona 1-1 Naples

Naples 2-4 Barcelona

ACADEMY FACTOR

Barcelona, ​​one of the most distinguished clubs in European history, has 26 La Liga championships, 5 UEFA Champions League championships, 3 FIFA World Cup championships and 31 Spanish King's Cup successes.

Barcelona's biggest success is the world star names whom steps up from its academy. Barcelona Academy, which has one of the most active infrastructures in the world, brought a world star like Lionel Messi into football. Lionel Messi made his mark in history as the club's top scorer in the Catalan team, which experienced the brightest periods in its history with names such as Gerard Pique, Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez and Sergio Busquets, who came out of the same academy. Messi made his mark as Barcelona's all-time top scorer with 474 goals in 520 official matches in Barcelona. Messi transferred to Paris Saint-Germain in the 2021-2022 summer transfer season with an emotional farewell ceremony.

AGAIN AFTER 20 YEARS

The two giants of Europe, Galatasaray and Barcelona, ​​met four times in the same group at the Champions League level. Five Barcelona wins, two draws and one Galatasaray win in eight matches were out. Lastly, the Catalan team, which faced Galatasaray in the Champions League Group H in the 2002/2003 season, came to Istanbul on September 24, 2002. Barça won this match played in Ali Sami Yen with a score of 3-0.

KEREM AKTÜRKOĞLU – THE WIZARD

Our young football player Kerem Aktürkoğlu was one of our players who attracted attention with his performance in the Europa League. Kerem Aktürkoğlu, the Galatasaray player who took the most accurate shots in the Europa League groups (6) and hit the ball in the opponent's penalty area (18) this season, is also the player who gives the most shot passes in the running game (6).

Galatasaray (3W 3D), which did not lose the last six matches it played in the European cups, experienced a longer streak in 13 matches between October 1999 and September 2000 (excluding the pre-qualifications).

A SPECIAL MATCH

The two-legged match with Barcelona in the UEFA Europa League will have a special meaning for our coach Doménec Torrent and his technical team. Torrent, who served in Barcelona for years in the team of world-famous coach Pep Guardiola, will this time be in charge against his old club. Ricard Segarra, who is the goalkeeper coach in Torrent's team, also served in Barcelona's technical team for years. On the other hand, Iñaki Peña, who we added to our squad on loan from Barcelona, ​​will play against Barça if he is given a task.

Arda Turan, one of our captains, is among those who pass through Barcelona. After his successful years in Atletico Madrid, Arda has transferred to Barcelona in the 2015-2016 season and successfully represented our country here until January 2018. Arda Turan, who scored 15 goals and 11 assists in 55 games in Barcelona, ​​made history by scoring a hat-trick in the Borussia Mönchengladbach match played by Barcelona in the Champions League Group C in the 2016-2017 season. He became the third Turkish player to score a hat-trick in the Champions League.

Arda Turan won 1 La Liga title, 2 Spanish Cup titles and 1 Spanish Super Cup title in Barcelona.

UNDEFEATED AND LEADER IN THE GROUP

Galatasaray, which achieved good results in the UEFA Europa League this season with its young staff and the energy it showed; came out as undefeated and the leader of the group, which included strong teams such as Marseille , Lokomotiv Moscow and Lazio. Galatasaray, which draws attention by closing its goal in the away matches, will face Barcelona as one of the most successful teams of the UEFA Europa League groups.

Galatasaray will play its first leg match on Thursday, March 10 at Camp Nou. The return match will take place on Thursday, March 17 at the Ali Sami Yen Sports Complex.