Riera: 'Galatasaray fans are 12th man'

Galatasaray left-back Albert Riera has praised Galatasaray's fans and has said that they are able to "win games" with their support.

style="border-radius: 25px 25px 25px 25px; border: 5px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);" width="266" />

The former Liverpool winger said that football means everything to the Turkish side's fans and that he expects up to 15,000 to make the trip to the Bernabeu for the quarter-final of the Champions League against Real Madrid.



"Galatasaray's fans are the most fanatical [of all the clubs I've been at]," he told Marca. "If I had to choose just one of them, for their craziness and fanaticism, I'd stick with Galatasaray's.



"I've never seen anything like it in my life. These guys win games, I'm telling you. If the club is given 40,000 tickets then 40,000 fans travel plus a few more.



"They're talking about between 10,000 and 15,000 Turks travelling to Madrid and I believe them. It's insane how they live their football and what this tie means to them. Right now it means everything."



The first leg takes place in Madrid on Wednesday night.

UEFA reject Drogba appeal

UEFA have rejected the protest lodged by Schalke over the eligibility of Galatasaray star Didier Drogba to play in their Champions League tie.



The German side had asked European football's governing body to investigate whether Drogba was allowed to play in the last-16, first-leg tie on 20 February, following his move from Chinese side Shanghai Shenhua.



However, in a statement on their website, UEFA said: "Having examined all the documents of the case, the Control and Disciplinary Body decided to reject the protest lodged by Schalke."



Former Chelsea player Drogba, 34, agreed to join Galatasaray on 28 January after ending his short stay with Shenhua amid claims he had not been paid his salary.



Shenhua countered that Drogba was in breach of his contract and it fell to FIFA to provisionally clear the way for the Ivorian to make his Galatasaray debut in the 2-1 win over Akhisar on 15 February.



Schalke earned a draw in Istanbul after Jermaine Jones's away goal cancelled out Galatasaray striker Burak Yilmaz's early opener.



The two sides meet in the second leg of the tie on 12 March in Gelsenkirchen.

Didier Drogba visits opponent in hospital after clash of heads

Didier Drogba and Orduspor's David Barral had a nasty clash of heads during Galatasaray's 4-2 win on Monday. The two players were going for the ball on a Galatasray corner kick and though both were laid out by the collision, it quickly became clear that Barral got the worst of it.



The Turkish striker, who momentarily lost consciousness, was put on a stretcher and taken to a hospital, but Drogba turned out to be OK. After the match, Drogba, still in his match gear, was driven to the hospital where Barral was taken and stopped in for a visit. If he wasn't well liked in Turkey already (he was), this would've done it. Here's a picture from the Gala PR team...



When asked why he didn't join Didier on the trip to see Barral, Kitier Katba reportedly said, "F*** that guy."

Galatasaray eye Villa ace

Turkish side Galatasaray are being heavily linked with a summer swoop for out-of-favour Aston Villa striker Darren Bent.



The England international, who cost Villa a record £24million transfer fee when signed from Sunderland by former boss Gerard Houllier, has endured a nightmare season under Paul Lambert's leadership with first-team action at a premium because of the manager's preference for Christian Benteke and Andreas Weimann.



As a result, with Villa struggling for Premier League survival and reportedly aiming to slash the wage bill at the end of the season, Bent is set to be one of the first players who will be allowed to leave.



Villa will reportedly accept around £10million and take a big loss on the money they paid out for Bent and Galatasaray certainly have the resources to take the player having snapped up big-name stars such as Didier Drogba and Wesley Sneijder this season.



The news of Galatasaray's interest in Bent follows on from numerous reports linking star striker Benteke with a big-money summer move to the likes of Arsenal and Tottenham, as Villa look to avoid dropping into the Championship between now and the end of the season.

Drogba poised for start

Former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba could make his UEFA Champions League return in Galatasaray's last 16 clash with Schalke.

Drogba scored on his Turkish Super Lig debut as a substitute against Akhisar Belediyespor on Friday and he could be joined in the starting line-up by fellow new boy Wesley Sneijder.

However, Galatasaray will be without Tomas Ujfalusi and Johan Elmander due to injury but ex-Arsenal defender Emmanuel Eboue could return at right-back.

Schalke will be without several key players for the first leg in Istanbul, with Kyriakos Papadopoulos, Atsuto Uchida, Ibrahim Afellay and Ciprian Marica all missing out.

The Bundesliga club, who reached the semi-finals in 2011, have also travelled to Turkey without Christoph Moritz and Lars Unnerstall.



However, Schalke are set to receive a boost as Dutch striker Klaas Jan Huntelaar looks likely to return after struggling with an eye injury in recent matches.