Galatasaray look to kick-start their league phase campaign against Liverpool in the 2025-26 UEFA Champions League.
Victory could lift Galatasaray into the top 20 depending on results elsewhere, whilst Liverpool can climb into the top ten with a win.
Team News
Galatasaray have no fresh injury concerns ahead of this match.
Liverpool will welcome Hugo Ekitike back after he was suspended for their 2-1 Premier League loss at Crystal Palace.
Giovanni Leoni is still ruled out with an ACL injury.
When is Kick-Off?
Galatasaray host Liverpool at Rams Park, Istanbul, on Tuesday 30 September at 9pm CEST (8pm BST), live on Amazon Prime in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Galatasaray have won one of four previous Champions League meetings against Liverpool (W1, D2, L1).
- Liverpool are yet to win away to Galatasaray in the Champions League (D1, L1).
- There has been just one clean sheet in the four previous Champions League clashes between Galatasaray and Liverpool, which came in a 0-0 draw at Anfield in February 2002.
- Just one of Yunus Akgun’s three goals for Galatasaray this season were scored at home.
- Harvey Elliott scored in Liverpool’s last two away Champions League games, but is currently on loan at Aston Villa this season.
Prediction
Having suffered a 5-1 humiliation in their league-phase opener at Eintracht Frankfurt after scoring first, Galatasaray will need to produce a huge improvement defensively but they have a strong attack featuring Leroy Sane and Victor Osimhen who is recently back from injury.
Liverpool’s sloppy scrappy wins in recent weeks finally caught up with them at Crystal Palace because they were outplayed in the first half, yet largely wasteful in the second half especially after they equalised whereas Palace had the stronger desire for a deserved win.
My biggest concern though is the high defensive line that Liverpool adopt because so often oppositional teams seem able to hit them on the counter-attack out wide with overlapping runs, which is something that Galatasaray will surely seek to use to their advantage.
I however do expect Liverpool to produce a strong response to their performance at Palace and get the win.
Prediction: Galatasaray 1-2 Liverpool
Result: Galatasaray 1-0 Liverpool
Leave a Reply