Galatasaray take on Manchester United in the Champions League Group A Match Day 2 at Old Trafford on Tuesday.
Galatasaray and Manchester United have history. The two sides met 6 times in official matches, with Galatasaray winning once, Manchester United winning twice, and 3 matches ending in a draw.
READ: Who is Man United Keeper Altay Bayindir? Turkiye’s Rising Star
The most famous encounters were in the 90’s where the Turkish giants coined the famous slogan ‘Welcome to Hell’, when welcoming United to Istanbul.
Team News
Manchester United are missing several players including Martinez, Mainoo, Amad, Wan-Bissaka, Shaw, Malacia, Reguilon Sancho and Van de Beek while Antony is a doubt – but could get playing time.
Galatasaray meanwhile, are only missing Hakim Ziyech.
Man United Probable XI: Bayindir; Dalot, Varane, Lindelof, Amrabat; Mount, Casemiro; Antony, Fernandes, Rashford; Hojlund
Galatasaray Probable XI: Muslera; Boey, Nelsson, Sanchez, Abdulkerim; Torreira, Kerem Demirbay, Zaha, Kerem Akturkoglu, Icardi
Prediction
United have not been in the best of form and lost against Crystal Palace on the weekend. The Reds lost their opening Champions League game 4-3 against Bayern Munich but the Germans are the group favourites.
Erik ten Hag is under a lot of pressure to get his side firing again after the worst start to a season since 1989.
Galatasaray meanwhile, are undefeated in their last 20 matches, including 13 Super League matches, 6 Champions League qualifiers, and one Champions League group stage match.
The Lions have won 17 and drawn 3 of these 20 games.
Okan Buruk has built one of the strongest Galatasaray sides in years and they head into the game in high spirits having beat Ankaragucu over the weekend.
Buruk will be pleased with Wilfried Zaha’s performance. The winger was back to his best and scored his first goal for his new team over the weekend.
The Yellow-Reds do possess goal-scorers who could pose a serious threat. Mauro Icardi has been in good form scoring 7 goals in the Super League and 3 goals in the Champions League qualifiers. He also has one assist.
Tete is also a danger and has been in impressive form, scoring the goal of the first round of group games in the 2-2 draw against Copenhagen.
The draw against Copenhagen was seen as a major disappointment in the opening game. However, the Lions did show character in being able to fight back from two goals down to level the score.
And the scoreline doesn’t really do justice to what happened in the game. It is fair to say Galatasaray should have scored a couple of goals in the first half and had the game dead and buried early on.
But such is football; if you miss your chances you can get punished. It was a rare off day for the Turkish giants.
You could say they underestimated Copenhagen and were not mentally as prepared as they should have been. This will not be the case against United at Old Trafford.
Galatasaray know they are the underdogs and will be well prepared knowing they cannot afford to make mistakes and miss key chances.
United could play into their hands if they are too hasty in attack. Galatasaray are dangerous on the counter and have players like Icardi, Zaha and Tete who can turn a game on its head given the chance.
Prediction: Galatasaray Win
Where can I watch the game?
UK: TNT Sports
US: Paramount+
Turkiye: Exxen
