Galatasaray vs Schalke Predictions

The Champions League’s most open group is Group D, where there is no clear stand-out side. Porto currently top the pile on four points, chased by Galatasaray and Schalke. Both of those sides will sense an opportunity in this group, and they’ll see their meeting on Wednesday night as a huge game in the race to make the top two. The Turkish champions are impressing domestically, but if they’re aiming to continue their progress in this competition then they can’t afford to lose at home to the Germans.

The hosts are sitting pretty at the top of the Super Lig, yet they’re in third place in their Champions League group. They need to take advantage of this week’s home meeting with one of their biggest rivals for a last 16 spot. Galatasaray meet Schalke home and away over the course of their next two games in the Champions League, clashes which could make or break their chances of making the next round. They’re doing that while juggling a challenge to their domestic supremacy, so the hosts are getting stretched at the moment.

Meanwhile, Schalke are suffering in their domestic league. After a storming run to the top four in the Bundesliga last term, they’ve found themselves at the wrong end of the table this time out. Eight matches into the campaign, they sit in the bottom three. The visitors have won just twice in the league this season, so the fact that they’re in the top two of the group shows how well they’re doing. With a win in Turkey, Schalke would have more points from three European games than they’ve managed in the league all season.

However, the Bundesliga side are going to struggle to claim three points in this visit to Istanbul. They head here with issues of their own, while Gala have an eight game unbeaten run behind them at their own ground. They’ll be aiming to build on that in this clash, while the away side have scored just five times in their eight league games so far. They haven’t been an adventurous side under manager Domenico Tedesco, and we see them taking a cautious approach for a game like this.

The visitors have seen under 2.5 goals in their last seven matches, and with their lack of goals they’re likely to struggle in this trip. We can’t see this being a particularly open match with so much on the line, so we’re backing under 2.5 goals in this one, along with a 1-1 draw.