Overview
Galatasaray will host Liverpool with the goal of finding hope again after a 1-5 defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt in the opening round. The Turkish team expects the history of the confrontation to support them more than their current form.
Liverpool travel to Turkey after a dramatic 1-2 defeat to Crystal Palace in the Premier League. However, they still maintain their "hammock" position in the Champions League with 13 wins in 14 group stage matches last season. Since losing to Atalanta in 2020, The Kop have scored 56 goals in 23 group stage matches.
In contrast, Galatasaray have won just one of their last 18 Champions League games and are on an eight-match winless streak at home. The last time they had joy at the Turk Telekom Arena was 6 years ago (beating Lokomotiv Moscow 3-0 in 2018). The 1-5 loss to Frankfurt makes the prospect of another early defeat this season even more worrying.
However, Okan Buruk's side still have reason to hope. Galatasaray are unbeaten in their last three matches against English sides, having defeated Man United and Tottenham in the Europa League. In addition, Liverpool have never won at Galatasaray.
Coach Arne Slot will have the return of Hugo Ekitike after suspension, while Giovanni Leoni is the only injury. Federico Chiesa could be named a starter. Mohamed Salah, with 48 goals in the Champions League, also has the opportunity to join the group of 11 strikers who have reached the 50-goal mark in the most prestigious arena in Europe.
This tournament could also be an opportunity for Florian Wirtz to regain his confidence, after a period of not really exploding in the Premier League. Against Atletico Madrid, he created up to 5 chances, raising the average rate since the beginning of last season to 3.2 chances/90 minutes - the highest among players with at least 500 minutes in the Champions League.
On Galatasaray's side, Ilkay Gundogan stood out with 4 chances in the match against Eintracht, the best achievement of a Turkish club debut in this arena since the 2003-2004 season, equal to Jean Seri (2019-2020) and Lionel Carole (2015-2016).
In addition to Gundogan, the Galatasaray squad has many familiar faces with the Premier League such as Mario Lemina, Davinson Sanchez, today's Sane and Lucas Torreira.
The biggest question mark is Victor Osimhen's fitness. The Nigeria striker only entered the field for the last 5 minutes in the 1-0 win over Alanyaspor last weekend. Galatasaray will likely need him to start if they want to create a surprise against the Premier League team.
Head-to-head record
Galatasaray and Liverpool have met four times, each team has a victory. However, in Turkey, The Kop have never won, drawing 0-0 in the group stage of the 2002-2003 season and losing 2-3 in 2006.
Interestingly, in the first leg of the 2006-2007 season, taking place 19 years ago, Liverpool won thanks to a beautiful shot from Peter Crouch, before losing in the return leg at Galatasaray under Rafa Benitez.
Score prediction: Galatasaray 1-2 Liverpool
Expected lineup:
Galatasaray: Ugurcan Cakircan, Roland Sallai, Abdulkerim Bardakci, Davinson Sanchez, Eren Elmali, Lucas Torreira, Ilkay Gundogan, Baris Alper Yilmaz, today's Sane, Yunus Akgun, Mauro Icardi.
Liverpool: Alisson, Jeremie Frimpong, Ibrahima Konate, Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson, Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai, Florian Wirtz, Mohamed Salah, Cody Gakpo, Hugo Ekitike.
The match between Galatasaray and Liverpool takes place at 2:00 am on October 1 (Vietnam time).
