FROM Nicolas Anelka’s former home, on the Asian side of Istanbul, you could get a glorious view of the Bosphorus on a clear day. In Anelka’s career of many apartment windows - and transfer windows - Fenerbahce provided him with one of the more handsome vistas. They also flattered him more than Arsenal, Real Madrid, Paris Saint German, Liverpool, Manchester City, Bolton or Chelsea. Anelka’s arrival three years ago would be serenaded by a club vice-president “as the most important day in Fenerbahce’s history”.

The return of Anelka there, with Chelsea next month, would hold a better claim on a watershed place in Fenerbahce history, the club having reached the quarter-finals of Europe’s principal club competition for the first time, confirmation of their genuine ambition to compete with the sturdiest clubs from more fashionable football nations. This has not been a straightforward season for Fenerbahce in the Turkish league, but their progress is Europe has been gripping, ever since they supplied the tournament with its most fetching result on the opening night of the group phase, beating Internazionale - the first of four home wins so far - and then shared in the bonanza of goals with Sevilla in the last 16. Ten had been scored in the first 180 minutes, and it needed settling by penalties. In front of an Andalucian crowd, the Turks held their nerves better.

Or, rather, the Turks, the Brazilians, the Serb and the Uruguayan did. This is a club as cosmopolitan as most of those left in the competition.

In Anelka’s old position is Mateja Kezman, the Serbia international once of Chelsea and Atletico Madrid. Earning something like the super-sized salary Anelka once drew is Roberto Carlos, perhaps the most dynamic left-back of the past decade. He is 35, but still with some gunpowder in those phenomenal thighs.

The favourite Brazilian among Fenerbahce’s lively supporters though is Alex, a versatile attacker with an excellent portfolio of tricks, and a left foot capable of delivering the ball with enough accuracy that Kezman’s occasional flaws with his first touch vanish. Alex’s set-pieces have been a feature of their campaign. The goals of another Brazilian, Deivid, helped push Fenerbahce through, and yet another is enjoying having his reputation as a coach rehabilitated. Fenerbahce’s boss is Zico, as great an ex-player as you will find holding a position in club management.

That’s Zico the Brazil forward of the 1970s and 1980s, the White Pele, as he sometimes used to be known, and a man who has been round the world enough as a coach to say “even though it’s an advantage that players know what you could do as a player, you should never think you know everything because you used to be a top player”. Zico led Japan to the last World Cup and left little impression there. His name though, has encouraged one or two compatriots to join Fenerbahce. Roberto Carlos, ready to leave Real Madrid last summer, preferred Istanbul to other destinations.

Fenerbahce could also meet the economic expectations of the ex-galactico, proof of their ambition under Aziz Yildirim, a construction magnate whose 10 years as president have seen the club quoted on the Turkish stock market and aggressively build the merchandising operation. He likes to regard Fenerbahce as the most popular club in Turkey and has a vision in which they become as powerful as “Chelsea, Milan and Real Madrid” in 10 years. They have gone further than two of those in the European Cup this year; they now get a shot at the third.