Turkish teams learn European rivals

Three Istanbul clubs have learned who their rivals will be in competitions on the European stage, while all three are also hoping to improve their forms in domestic competition this weekend.

Fenerbahçe on Aug. 28 was drawn in what pundits said was one of the trickiest groups for the next stage of the Europa League competition. Fenerbahçe will meet Scottish champions Celtic and Dutch league runner-up Ajax, both of which failed to qualify for the Champions League group phase, just like Fenerbahçe. Group A was completed by Norwegian champion Molde.

"It's a good group with some big teams and there will be a lot of exciting games home and away," said Celtic manager Ronny Deila.

Be?ikta?, which also competes in the same event, will be in a relatively easier group, together with Sporting Lisbon of Portugal, Russian Lokomotiv Moscow and Skenderbeu, the Albanian league's champion.

"We know Sporting and Lokomotiv but we don't have much information about the Albanian outfit," said Be?ikta? board member Erdal Toruno?ullar?.  "We want to go as far as possible in Europe," he added.

Galatasaray, on the other hand, will play against Portuguese club Benfica, Atletico Madrid of Spain and Astana, the Kazakh champion that will enjoy the Champions League group stage for the first time.

"In every match our opponents will be favorites, but we have to do all we can and put in 100 percent effort," Astana coach Stanimir Stoilov said after the draw on Aug. 27. "We want to go through - we'll play our natural game."

Atletico is unbeaten in four fixtures against Galatasaray, winning two games - both away from home - and drawing the other two. The Spanish side triumphed 1-0 on aggregate (0-0 home, 1-0 away) in the 1973-1974 European...