Galatasaray’s home fortress of Rams Park will be put to the test as the hosts look to make it back-to-back UEFA Champions League (UCL) wins against a Stuttgart side who are yet to lose in Europe this term.
Match News and Current Form
Galatasaray extended their winning streak to four games by defeating Konyaspor 4-0 on Friday night, with that run including a 4-2 victory over Lille in Europe which ended a streak of six UCL league phase fixtures without a win (D1, L5). The Lions, who are top of the Turkish Süper Lig, have been particularly strong on home soil, losing just once at Rams Park since mid-April (W6, D1), although their six home games this season only saw one convincing win by a 2+ goal margin (W4, D1, L1). That sole defeat came in this competition against Barcelona, and Okan Buruk’s men can take confidence from the fact they have not lost back-to-back fixtures in major European football since 2019.
Stuttgart also head into this game on the back of a victory thanks to a 4-2 Halloween success against Bayer Leverkusen. That was a second successive win for the German outfit, who have also made an impressive start to the UCL, coming into this round as one of seven teams yet to lose in the league phase (W2, D1), aided by conceding a joint-tournament low of two goals. The Reds have won three of their last five away games across all competitions ‘to nil’ (W4, L1), one of which was a 3-0 defeat of Slovan Bratislava last month, but they haven't recorded back-to-back victories on the road in Europe since 2012.
Head-to-Head History
This is the first meeting between these two teams, but Galatasaray are winless in their last seven European Cup clashes with German opposition (D4, L3), while Stuttgart’s previous match-up with a Turkish side ended in a 1-0 UEFA Europa League defeat to Fenerbahçe.
Hot Stats and Streaks
Six of Galatasaray’s last seven European outings featured over 2.5 goals.
Five of Galatasaray’s six home fixtures this term saw both teams score.
No team has had more shots off target ahead of this round than Stuttgart (26).
Stuttgart have committed the third-most fouls (43) in the UCL ahead of this round.
Key Players to Watch and Missing Players
Galatasaray’s Victor Osimhen has scored his last five goals in this competition after half-time, while Ermedin Demirović’s four UCL goals this term are already the most by a Stuttgart player in a single edition of the competition.
Galatasaray do not appear to have any fresh injuries, but Leo Sauer and Angelo Stiller missed Stuttgart’s win over Leverkusen.
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Betting Analysis
It seems likely that both goalkeepers will be busy in this match, with over 2.5 goals perhaps a wise selection.
Author: Matt Jones