Juventus vs Galatasaray: Match preview, predicted line-ups, team news and prediction

With a mountain to climb in their quest to reach the Champions League last 16, Juventus play host to Galatasaray at the Allianz Stadium on Wednesday.

Both teams suffered defeats in their most recent domestic assignments, as Juve fell 2-0 to Como, while the visitors were beaten 2-0 by Konyaspor.

Match preview

Life under manager Luciano Spalletti began on a positive note for Juventus, with only two defeats in the first 20 matches, but things have since spiralled downwards.

They will now attempt to become the first Italian team since Roma eight years ago to overturn a three-goal first-leg deficit in the Champions League after a 5-2 thrashing at Galatasaray.

That stretched the hosts’ winless run in this fixture to four matches, something that seemed inconceivable after they won the first-ever meeting in September 2003.

Having trailed 2-1 at half-time, Galatasaray were staring down the barrel of a first home loss since November in last week’s play-off opener.

However, four unanswered second-half goals secured an emphatic win for the Turkish giants.

Okan Buruk’s men were sent crashing back down to earth against Konyaspor following a 2-0 defeat, which snapped their five-game winning run across all competitions.

While Saturday’s defeat has opened the door for them to be leapfrogged by city rivals Fenerbahce at the top of the Super Lig standings, their immediate focus will be on the Champions League.

Team news

Emil Holm, Arkadiusz Milik and Dusan Vlahovic are injury absentees for Juventus, who could also be without Gleison Bremer. Andrea Cambiaso and Juan Cabral are suspended.

Victor Osimhen missed Galatasaray’s last league match with a knee problem and is likely to miss the trip to Turin.

Turkish duo Ahmed Kutucu and Arda Unyay are also huge doubts for the visitors, with the latter not featuring since January 13.

Juventus Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Di Gregorio; Kalulu, Gatti, Kelly, Kostic; Thuram, Locatelli; Conceicao, Koopmeiners, Yildiz; David.

Galatasaray Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Cakir; Sallai, Sanchez, Bardakci, Jakobs; Torreira, Sara; Yilmaz, Akgun, Lang; Icardi.

Prediction: Juventus 3-1 Galatasaray.