Resurgent Galatasaray aim to extend Juventus’ knockout misery

A place in the UEFA Champions League last 16 is at stake as Galatasaray welcome Italian heavyweights Juventus to RAMS Park in the first leg of their playoffs on Tuesday evening.

Currently on a four-game winning streak, Gala battered Eyupspor 5-1 in the Super Lig last time out on Friday.

Okan Buruk’s side fell to a 2-0 defeat at Manchester City last month in the league phase, which pushed the Turkish side to a playoff spot.

Juventus suffered a late 3-2 defeat at Inter Milan in the classic Derby d’Italia in Serie A on Saturday.

Luciano Spalletti’s side were held to a goalless stalemate at Monaco in the last Champions League league-phase game, which secured their spot in the playoffs.

Match preview

This will be the seventh Champions League meeting between Galatasaray and Juventus, though the first to come in the knockout rounds of the competition. The Turkish side have lost just one of the prior six games between the pair (W2 D3), winning the last meeting 1-0 in December 2013.

Juventus have failed to win any of their three away Champions League games against Galatasaray (D1 L2); they’ve only ever faced Deportivo de La Coruña (4 – D2 L2) more times on the road in the competition without winning.

Galatasaray have lost just two of their last 11 Champions League games against Italian sides (W5 D4), while they are unbeaten in the competition on home soil versus Italian opposition (W5 D3).

After remaining unbeaten across their first five Champions League games against Turkish opposition between 1996 and September 2003 (W3 D2), Juventus have since been winless across their last three (D1 L2).

This will be the Lions’ first knockout stage match in the Champions League since the 2013/14 edition (0-2 loss away to Chelsea in the last 16). The Turkish side are unbeaten in home matches in the knockout stages of the competition (W2 D2), with their two wins both being 3-2 victories in quarter-finals against Real Madrid (in 2000/01 and 2012/13).

The Black and Whites are unbeaten in their five Champions League games under Luciano Spalletti (W3 D2), while keeping a clean sheet in the last three. They last kept four consecutive shutouts in the competition in the 2016/17 edition (a run of six), when they eventually finished as runners-up.

Gala have only lost one of their last 11 home matches in major European competition (W6 D4), with that lone defeat coming versus Union Saint-Gilloise last November (0-1). That was also the only time across their last 18 home games in major European competition that Galatasaray had failed to score.

Luciano Spalletti has only lost two of his last 16 games in the Champions League (W10 D4), across spells with Internazionale, Napoli and current club Juventus. He is unbeaten in the most recent six (W3 D3) and could achieve his longest streak without defeat in the competition here (7 games).

Victor Osimhen has scored six goals in six appearances in the Champions League this season; the only Galatasaray player to net more in a single edition of the European Cup/Champions League is Burak Yilmaz (8 in 9 appearances in 2012/13).

Team news

Galatasaray

Metahan Baltaci is suspended due to his involvement in a betting scandal, while Leroy Sane could feature after he recently resumed full training.

Juventus

Dusan Vlahovic and Arkadiusz Milik are the only absentees for the visitors.

Predicted line-ups

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

Juventus: Di Gregorio, Kalulu, Bremer, Kelly, Cambiaso, Locatelli, Koopmeiners, Conceicao, McKennie, Yildiz, David.