Schalke may have reached Champions League semi-finals in 2011, but it is Galatasaray who are the favourites here, having boosted their ranks with Wesley Sneijder and Didier Drogba.

The Turkish giants needed four years to qualify for the Champions League group stages, but after finally returning to Europe’s elite competition, they were determined to stay there for as long as possible.

Fatih Terim’s side looked to be on the verge of elimination after picking up just one point from first three group games, but three straight victories saw them pip CFR Cluj to the second place in the group.

Galatasaray were then handed a pretty favourable draw as they were pitted against out-of-form Schalke, and club chiefs recognized the need to sign a couple of star players in the January transfer window and try and reach the final stages of the competition.

In all fairness, they couldn’t have done much better than signing Sneijder and Drogba, with the two star player quickly showing they will be a huge asset to the squad.

With Galata in a very good form at the moment, odds of 2.25 (5/4) offered at Coral on home win do look too good to pass.

After scoring on his debut on Friday, Didier Drogba is 2.62 (13/8) at 888sport to net against Schalke as well.

Johan Elmander is doubtful through injury, but Didier Drogba and Emmanuel Eboue should start. Felipe Melo looks set to be overlooked despite returning to contention.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-2): Muslera – Eboue, Kaya, Nounkeu, Riera – Altintop, Selcuk Sahin, Yekta Kurtulus, Sneijder – Drogba, Yilmaz.

Schalke have really raised the club’s profile over the last few years, having reached the Champions League semi-finals in 2011/2012 and then achieved a third-place finish in Bundesliga last term.

In spite of the serious investment in the playing squad last summer, the Miners have failed to live up to the potential this season, with their showings leaving a lot to be desired.

Schalke enjoyed a pretty good start to the season, and while doing well on domestic stage, they even managed to win the first place in their Champions League group, but they have since suffered a huge dip in form.

Having won just 1 of their last 12 fixtures in all competitions, the Miners do not really have a lot of reason for optimism ahead of the trip to Istanbul.

They will have Klaas Jan Huntelaar back to the side after a lengthy spell on the sidelines, but the problem is the Dutch striker is nowhere near the form that served him so well last season.

Taking everything into account, there is little to no value in odds of 3.50 (5/2) offered at bet365 on away win.

New signing Michel Bastos is set to start after scoring a brace at the weekend, but Uchida, Afellay, Papadopoulos, Unnerstall, Marica, Moritz and Raffael are all unavailable.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Hildebrand – Hoger, Howedes, Matip, Fuchs – Jones, Neustadter – Farfan, Draxler, Bastos – Huntelaar.

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