EuroLeague prepares for Istanbul derby

Fenerbahçe will make the short trip across the Bosporus tonight as they take on local rivals Anadolu Efes at the Abdi İpekçi Arena in a crunch EuroLeague encounter. Both two sides are deadlocked with 4-2 records, sitting in joint second place in Group F behind juggernauts CSKA Moscow and Olympiacos. Fenerbahçe have suffered from uneven form in the competition so far, but they can take heart from having won all of their away games this season - although traveling to the European side of Istanbul hardly feels like an away game. Zeljko Obradovic, Fenerbahçe's legendary coach, will be up against his mentor Dusan Ivkovic. The two previously worked together with the Yugoslavian national team. In the Turkish League, Anadolu Efes enjoyed a comfortable win over Fenerbahçe, but Ivkovic is not expecting such an easy ride tonight. "For sure, I expect a big game against Fenerbahçe," Ivkovic said. "The game will be more different than the Turkish League game, which we won with a big difference. Our group is very tough. Until now, Fenerbahçe won all its games on the road. They have good game control. On the other side, we have to concentrate on this to play the game in high rhythm. It will be a good game."

The two sides come into the game on the back of tight wins. Fenerbahçe won their first home game of the Top 16 last week, when they beat Laboral Kutxa Vitoria by a single point while Efes picked up a valuable hard-fought win over Emporio Armani Milan by just three points. Obradovic is expecting a similarly close game tonight. "I hope that we will continue to play well like we did in the last EuroLeague game. It is a very important game for us against a team that we know very well. I am expecting a tough and difficult game," said the Serb.