Bayern Munich’s imperious Champions League group stage form has continued at the start of 2023/24, but a challenge well away from the comfort of Bavaria greets them on Tuesday.
Thomas Tuchel’s side were forced to come from behind to beat Copenhagen on Matchday 2 after opening their account with a 4-3 win over Manchester United. Their next two games see them take on a Galatasaray side that won at Old Trafford last time out and haven’t tasted defeat all season.
Bayern first visit Istanbul before welcoming the Turkish Super Lig champions to Munich in two weeks time.
Here’s 90min’s preview of Bayern’s upcoming duel as they attempt to extend their unbeaten run in Champions League group stage games to 37.
Galatasaray vs Bayern Munich H2H Record (Last Five Games)
Current form (all competitions)
|
Country |
TV channel/live stream |
|---|---|
|
United Kingdom |
discovery+ App, TNT Sports 1, discovery+ |
|
United States |
UniMás, TUDN USA, TUDN.com, Paramount+, Univision NOW, TUDN App, ViX |
|
Canada |
DAZN |
Galatasaray’s star-studded squad is in good shape ahead of Bayern’s visit. Mauro Icardi is in excellent goalscoring form, and he’ll be leading the line on Tuesday.
Davinson Sanchez and Wilfried Zaha are both likely to start, while Tanguy Ndombele, Kerem Demirbay, and Dries Mertens earned minutes off the bench in their 2-1 win over Besiktas at the weekend.
The hosts have no injury concerns.
Galatasaray predicted lineup vs Bayern (4-2-3-1): Muslera; Boey, Sanchez, Bardakci, Tasende; Ayhan, Torreira; Tete, Akturkoglu, Zaha; Icardi.
Tuchel took just a squad of 18 to Mainz at the weekend given Bayern’s extensive list of absentees.
Tuesday’s visitors are still without Serge Gnabry and Dayot Upamecano, while Raphael Guerreiro was added to the injury list before Bayern returned to Bundesliga action on Saturday. Tuchel is also set to be without Leon Goretzka for the next few weeks after he broke his wrist in the win over Mainz.
Konrad Laimer will come into midfield on Tuesday with Noussair Mazraoui returning to Tuchel’s matchday squad.
Bayern predicted lineup vs Galatasaray (4-2-3-1): Ulreich; Mazraoui, De Ligt, Kim, Davies; Laimer, Kimmich; Coman, Musiala, Sane; Kane.
Bayern have won 15 Champions League group stage games on the spin, but their thin squad means they’ve got their work cut out if they’re to extend that run to 16 on Tuesday.
Galatasaray, buoyed by a raucous fanbase in Istanbul, will be confident of upsetting the odds and bringing the Germans’ imperious run to an end. They’ve got the attacking talent to compromise Bayern’s aggressive defensive line, and while the visitors were somewhat impressive at Mainz on Saturday, complete performances have come few and far between.
There should be goals at both ends on Tuesday, with the spoils being shared.
Prediction: Galatasaray 2-2 Bayern Munich
Read More: World News | Entertainment News | Celeb News
90Mins
