Galatasaray aim to make Champions League history when they visit Man City

Galatasaray could make history by becoming the first Turkish club to reach 250 UEFA Champions League goals when they visit the Etihad Stadium to face Manchester City in the final league-phase game on Wednesday night.

City secured a 2-0 victory over bottom-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League at the weekend.

However, Pep Guardiola’s men suffered a shocking 3-1 defeat at Bodø/Glimt last time out in the Champions League, and they currently sit 11th in the league-phase standings.

Galatasaray secured a 3-1 victory at Fatih Karagumruk in the Super Lig at the weekend. Okan Buruk’s side were held to a 1-1 draw by Atletico Madrid last time out in the Champions League.

Match preview

This will be the first meeting between Manchester City and Galatasaray, as well as Pep Guardiola’s first ever game against the Turkish side.

The last English team to beat Galatasaray in the Champions League was Arsenal in December 2014 (4-1). Since then, the Turkish side are unbeaten in three meetings with English opponents in the competition (W2 D1), including a win over Liverpool earlier this season in the most recent one (1-0 in September 2025).

City’s only previous meetings against a Turkish side came 57 years ago in the 1968/69 European Cup, with the Citizens being eliminated by Fenerbahçe in the first round (lost 2-1 on aggregate – 0-0 at home, lost 2-1 away).

Guardiola’s side have lost two of their last three Champions League games (W1), having only lost three of their prior 24 league phase/group stage matches in the competition (W16 D5); the Citizens lost 2-0 to Bayer Leverkusen in their most recent home game but have never lost back-to-back group games at the Etihad Stadium in the competition.

Since the start of last season only Viktoria Plzen (9) and Fenerbahçe (7) have drawn more games across the Champions League and UEFA Europa League than Galatasaray (6) – they haven’t drawn back-to-back matches in the same Champions League campaign since drawing five straight in 2001/02, however.

Galatasaray manager Okan Buruk won three of his five previous Champions League games against English opposition (D1 L1), including an away win with Galatasaray against Manchester United in October 2023 (3-2); he also led Istanbul Basaksehir to victory over the Red Devils in November 2020 and Gala to a 1-0 win over Liverpool in this season’s league phase.

Manchester City striker Erling Haaland has scored 35 goals in just 27 home appearances in the Champions League, netting 21 in 18 at the Etihad Stadium for the Citizens; only Sergio Agüero has netted more times in the competition at the venue (23).

Team news

Manchester City

The host will be without John Stones, Ruben Dias, Nico Gonzalez, Oscar Bobb, Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol due to injuries.

Rodri is also unavailable due to suspension.

Galatasaray

Enes Buyuk, Wilfried Singo, Arda Unyay and Metehan Baltaci are unavailable due to injury and suspension.

Predicted line-ups

Manchester City: Donnarumma, Nunes, Khusanov, Ake, O’Reilly, Cherki, Foden, Lewis, Silva, Doku, Haaland.

Galatasaray: Cakir, Sallai, Bardakci, Sanchez, Jakobs, Lemina, Torreira, Sane, Gundogan, Yilmaz, Osimhen.