Fenerbahçe had a very stable and convincing season last season. However, after scoring 99 goals and 99 points in 38 rounds of the championship, the Istanbul team managed not to become the champion of Turkey. The team was overtaken by Galatasaray by a margin of three points. Ironically, the aforementioned principal rival Fenerbahçe also inflicted the first defeat in the current Super League campaign, which took place last Saturday. Galatasaray also mocked Mourinho after the match, who did not attend the final press conference. In general, the Istanbul team approaches the match against Union St Gillois with a negative charge, angry and frustrated at the same time. One thing that can be encouraging for the Fenerbahçe players is that nothing good can be said about their opponents. Union St-Gillois, after winning the Belgian Super Cup, failed everything they could fail during August and September. Bookmakers have identified the home team as favourites for the upcoming encounter, offering odds of 1.62 on their victory.

Fenerbahçe started their European journey in the Champions League qualification. Having easily defeated Lugano in both meetings, the team took on Lille in the penultimate round. After exchanging victories with the French in regulation time, the Turkish team converted a penalty five minutes before the end of the second extra time and tragically crashed out. In the championship Fenerbahçe is again second after the unfortunate Galatasaray. Apart from their defeat in a personal encounter, Mourinho's men lost points in one more match out of five, drawing with Göztepe.

Union St Gillois four times in eight rounds of the current Belgian championship of the opponents parted with a peace with a score 0:0. The catastrophic problems in the organisation of the game led to a rather lacklustre departure of the Belgian team from the Champions League qualification from Slavia Prague (1:3 and 0:1). Union St Gillois has not made such a dismal impression for a long time, but the match in Istanbul has such an attractive "sign" for its players to tune in properly, win and let the season go backwards. In March this year, the teams have already met in the 1/8 finals of the Conference League. Fenerbahçe defeated their opponents in both matches. The upcoming game should be played in a competitive style.