Club Brugge vs Galatasaray Predictions

Both Belgian side Club Brugge and Turkish giants Galatasaray are expected by most to make up the numbers in Champions League Group A alongside Real Madrid and PSG.

However, the outcome of the two fixtures between the group’s underdogs will be pivotal in determining who takes third place behind the section’s favourites, and the consolation prize of the Europe League.

Club Brugge lost a clutch of important first team players in the summer, though the Belgians are used to recovering quickly from regular major transfer market raids.

The new-look FCB have started 2019/20 in confident fashion, remaining unbeaten through their first ten competitive games of the season, a sequence that included impressive two-legged Champions League qualification triumphs over Ukrainian heavyweights Dynamo Kiev and Links from Austria.

This will be the third time in four seasons that the Belgians compete in the Group Stage of the Champions League, and Club Brugge gave a good account of themselves last term, taking six points from six games in a tough section alongside Atletico Madrid, Monaco and Borussia Dortmund.

Brugge conceded only five times in those six Group fixtures, though they seem to have lost some of their defensive solidity over the summer, and Philippe Clement’s men conceded five times in four UCL pre-qualifiers before September.

Their opponents this week Galatasaray, are fully familiar with the feeling of conceding goals in the Champions League. The Cimbom kept just three clean sheets in their last 35 matches in Europe’s premier club competition, and we expect them to concede again on Wednesday.

Galatasaray have enough talent in their ranks to find holes in Brugge’s rearguard at the other end however. Gala failed to score in only two of their last 15 competitive games, and armed with the experience of Sofiane Feghouli, Radamel Falcao and Ryan Babel, they bring plenty of attacking threat to the Jan Breydel Stadium on Wednesday.

With the aforementioned factors digested, we think there is value in backing both teams to score in Belgium this week. Club Brugge’s last five matches averaged just 1.6 goals per 90 minutes however, so we shouldn’t expect a deluge of goals in their latest outing on Wednesday. Our correct score prediction takes that into consideration, and we’re tipping the teams to share the spoils in a 1-1 draw.