Galatasaray's Ali Sami Yen Stadium has a reputation, much relished by their supporters, as the most notorious in European football. For the Liverpool striker Michael Owen, however, Hell should prove no more hindrance than, say, a trip across Stanley Park to Goodison.

"When you play in a full stadium where everybody is against you, it makes you stick together as a team," said Owen. "We've all faced hostile atmospheres before and it should bring the best out in us. No crowd has ever scored a goal."

Liverpool must emerge unscathed from the "cauldron of hate" tonight if their Champions League hopes, already hanging by a thread, are not to be prematurely cut adrift.

Galatasaray are unbeaten here in European competition since Chelsea romped to a 5-0 success three years ago. Istanbul was engulfed in blizzards yesterday; Hell may have frozen over, but the tourists can expect few surprises this evening.

"No one's kidding himself: it's going to be tough," said the caretaker-manager Phil Thompson, whose side are unbeaten in 13 continental away games but languish at the foot of the group with two points and one goal to their name.

"They've got a great record, stretching back to that defeat to Chelsea, but that result shows what can be done here. We've proved ourselves to be reputation wreckers in the past. We've got to make sure we do again."

The visitors must cling to that hope. Galatasaray, top of their domestic league, have not lost at home this season, while that unbeaten European sequence now stretches back 18 games. If eight points is seen as realistic to ensure qualification to the knock-out phase, defeat here and Liverpool would need to win in Barcelona and at home to Roma to progress.

Neither seems likely. The Catalans waltzed to a classy victory on Merseyside in November, while the Reds' stuttering home form - capped by last week's goalless draw with the Turks - hardly bodes well for a rip-roaring finale against the Romans.

"You have to be solid at the beginning of the game, keep the crowd quiet and then you can build," said Thompson. "If things aren't going their way, their fans can easily turn."

Liverpool arrived on Sunday to the biggest security operation in 38 years of continental competition, though there was precious little commotion at the airport.

The game itself, to be attended by around 400 Liverpool fans and 2,000 armed police officers, promises to be more intimidating.

"I've played in games when the atmosphere is so intense it's difficult to find shelter," added Thompson. "But to say you've played at the Ali Sami Yen Stadium and done your stuff with that going on should be your chief motivation."

Ironically, Galatasaray's own desire to leap-frog either Roma or Barcelona could yet play into Liverpool's hands. Last week the Turks showed pitiful attacking ambition as they soaked up the home side's intermittent pressure with something to spare. Should they commit more to offence, Owen and Emile Heskey's pace up front could expose their make-shift rearguard.

GALATASARAY (probable; 4-4-2): Mondragon; Perez, Korkmaz, Inceefe, Victoria; Fleurquin, Ergun, Berkant Goktan, Hasan Sas; Erdem, Niculescu.

LIVERPOOL (probable; 4-4-2): Kirkland; Xavier, Henchoz, Hyypia, Carragher; Murphy, McAllister, Hamann, Riise; Owen, Heskey.

Referee: U Meier (Switzerland).

Guardian Service