Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe seek good starts to the Europa League as the two Istanbul giants on Thursday play their first games in the newly built competition.

Galatasaray visits Greece’s Panathinaikos, while Fenerbahçe welcomes Dutch side FC Twente in the European club competition that replaces the UEFA Cup.

Coach Frank Rijkaard acknowledged that Panathinaikos will be his side’s most important opponent in the Group F, which also has Sturm Graz of Austria and Dynamo Bucharest of Romania.

“When we look at all three teams, Panathinaikos looks the most difficult on paper,” said Rijkaard to GS TV. “But that is only on paper. You can never know how many points you will get from which game, but we have to get points.”

The Lions have been scoring freely in the European competition’s preliminary rounds with 19 goals in six games, but will have a solid team to play against in this match. The game will have another dramatic edge as Panathinaikos’ coach Henk Ten Cate was Rijkaard’s assistant manager during the Dutchman’s stint at Barcelona. Together they led the Catalans to two Spanish La Liga and one Champions League titles but this time they will be against each other.

Galatasaray is on an 11-game unbeaten streak, meaning that Rijkaard has yet to experience a loss as the Lions coach. German coach Christoph Daum has a similar run at Fenerbahçe this season and says he wants his team to start the Europa League successfully as well.

“We want to start the Europa League just as we did in the Turkcell Super League,” said the German to FB TV. “Twente is a good team but we want to press hard and force its players to make errors.”

Fenerbahçe will try to make its way to the elimination rounds from the Group H that also has Romania’s Steaua Bucharest and Sheriff of Moldavia.