Manchester United vs Galatasaray: Prediction and Preview

A journey to Old Trafford, sometimes known as the ‘Theatre of Dreams’ to Manchester United players, used to be the stuff of nightmares for opposing teams. That hasn’t been the case recently, with the Red Devils coming into Tuesday’s vital UEFA Champions League clash with Galatasaray having lost back-to-back home Premier League games.

Erik ten Hag’s side were jeered by their own fans after Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace, as was the case after their 3-1 defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion, with the Dutchman under pressure after overseeing United’s worst-ever start to a Premier League season, taking nine points from seven matches. He’ll be hoping that his misfiring squad responds to a return to European play, although United are already in need of points in Group A.

On Matchday 1, a Casemiro double and Rasmus Hjlund’s debut goal for United were not enough as the Red Devils were defeated 4-3 by group favourites Bayern Munich. Taking into account April’s dismal UEFA Europa League defeat at Sevilla, United have already lost three successive continental matches, and they might possibly suffer three consecutive European defeats for the first time since 2013.NYSC Portal

The encounter on Tuesday will be United’s first at home in the Champions League since a 1-0 loss to Atlético Madrid in the last 16 in 2021-22. They have lost six of their last 13 Champions League games at Old Trafford (five wins, two draws), which is the same number of losses as they had in their previous 80 (57 wins, 17 draws).InformationGuideNigeria

Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford will be crucial if Manchester United are to turn the corner. Fernandes has assisted a goal in seven of his past eight Champions League appearances, equaling the number of assists (seven) recorded by every other United player in the competition during their last two outings (2021-22 and 2023-24).

Rashford, on the other hand, has scored once every 112 minutes in 14 Champions League outings at Old Trafford (eight goals). Only Ruud van Nistelrooy (87) has a better minutes-per-goal ratio at Old Trafford among all players who have played 10 home games for United in the competition.

Ten Hag is currently dealing with a large injury list, which includes defenders Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Luke Shaw, Lisandro Martnez, and Tyrell Malacia. Sergio Reguilón is also questionable for Tuesday’s encounter, meaning midfielder Sofyan Amrabat may have to fill in at left-back once more, like he did against Palace.

Due Manchester United’s troubles, Turkish champions Galatasaray may envision a path to the last 16. On MD 1, Okan Buruk’s squad trailed Kbenhavn 2-0 in the 86th minute, but goals from Sacha Boey and former Leicester City loanee Tetê salvaged a 2-2 tie. Galatasaray had not been defeated in the Champions League since overcoming Real Madrid 3-2 in the first leg of the quarter-finals in April 2001.

On the domestic front, Galatasaray maintained their unblemished start to the Süper Lig season with a 2-1 comeback victory over MKE Ankaragücü on Saturday.

Wilfried Zaha scored Galatasaray’s equaliser, and he will be looking to impress on Tuesday having being limited to two Premier League substitute appearances – totaling 28 minutes – during a two-year stint at United between 2013 and 2015. After rejoining Crystal Palace, he netted three times in 13 league games against them.JAMB Portal

Zaha might be one of the well-known names in Galatasaray’s starting lineup. They named seven former Premier League players to their roster for the match against Kbenhavn, including Zaha, Davinson Sánchez, Hakim Ziyech, Lucas Torreira, Tanguy Ndombélé, Tetê, and Angelio. Dries Mertens and Mauro Icardi, who went viral last week after firing wide from a penalty when Kerem Aktürkolu passed to him, should spearhead their attack.

Liverpool vs. Galatasaray Head-to-Head
Man United and Galatasaray have previously met in six European competitions.

Galatasaray have only won one of those four games (three draws and two defeats), albeit that triumph came in the clubs’ most recent meeting in November 2012, when Burak Ylmaz’s goal took them to a 1-0 home win in the Champions League group stage.

United, on the other hand, is unbeaten in three previous home meetings against Galatasaray, drawing 3-3 in a Champions League qualifier in October 1993 before winning 4-0 in December 1994 and 1-0 in September 2012, all in group-stage matches.

Since Beşiktaş won 1-0 at Old Trafford in November 2009, no Turkish team has won an away Champions League game against English opposition.

Since then, Turkish teams have lost all five Champions League matches in England, with Galatasaray accounting for three of those defeats and Bursaspor and Istanbul Başakşehir each suffering one.

Recent Form United enter Tuesday’s game having lost back-to-back home Premier League games for the first time since losing to Liverpool and Manchester City in October and November 2021, in what proved to be Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s final two home league games in command.JAMB Result

Ten Hag’s team has lost five of their last eight games in all competitions (the other games ended with two Premier League wins over Nottingham Forest and Burnley, as well as an EFL Cup victory over Crystal Palace), falling to Tottenham, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Brighton, and Palace while conceding 15 goals.

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Galatasaray, however, has won 11 and drawn three of their 14 competitive games this season.

They’ve won three Süper Lig games and a 3-2 Champions League qualifying triumph at Molde in their past four road games.

Power Rankings by Opta
The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system that assigns a skill score to over 13,000 domestic football teams on a scale of zero to 100, with zero being the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 being the greatest.

Here is the Opta Power Ranking for both teams before of their match on Tuesday night.

Despite United’s domestic woes, the Opta supercomputer has them as strong favourites to win on Tuesday.

United won 65.2% of 10,000 match simulations prior to kickoff. Galatasaray now has a 15.2% chance of winning and a 19.6% chance of drawing.

The supercomputer offers United a 67.84% chance of reaching the last 16 in its overall Champions League projections, while their chances of topping Group A have dropped to 10.36% after their MD 1 loss to Bayern.

Galatasaray qualified in 22.5% of simulations from Group A. With Bayern having an 85.57% chance of winning the group and Kbenhavn only progressing in 12.18% of scenarios, the outcome of Tuesday’s game could be decisive.

Manchester United vs Galatasaray UCL Squads

Manchester United: Altay Bayındır, Tom Heaton, André Onana, Victor Lindelöf, Harry Maguire, Lisandro Martínez, Tyrell Malacia, Sergio Reguilón, Raphaël Varane, Diogo Dalot, Luke Shaw, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Jonny Evans, Sofyan Amrabat, Mason Mount, Bruno Fernandes, Christian Eriksen, Casemiro, Jadon Sancho, Facundo Pellistri, Scott McTominay, Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford, Rasmus Højlund, Antony.

Head Coach: Erik ten Hag

Galatasaray: Fernando Muslera, Atakan Ordu, Günay Güvenç, Jankat Yılmaz, Angeliño, Davinson Sánchez, Kaan Ayhan, Victor Nelsson, Abdülkerim Bardakcı, Eren Paşahan, Ali Yeşilyurt, Ali Turap Bülbül, Kazımcan Karataş, Sacha Boey, Kerem Demirbay, Hakim Ziyech, Sérgio Oliveira, Lucas Torreira, Beknaz Almazbekov, Berk Kizildemir, Hamza Akman, Efe Akman, Tanguy Ndombélé, Kerem Aktürkoğlu, Mauro Icardi, Dries Mertens, Wilfried Zaha, Tetê, Barış Alper Yılmaz, Baran Demiroğlu, Recep Dilek, Cédric Bakambu.

Head Coach: Okan Buruk

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