It’s over a month since FC Barcelona opened their Champions League campaign with an emphatic 5-1 victory over Feyenoord at Spotify Camp Nou, and the second of the eight League Phase fixtures is finally here. And it’s a biggie, with Hansi Flick and his team in Istanbul to face Galatasaray at 9pm CEST on Tuesday night.
The idea is to keep the winning feeling going. Incredibly, Barça have won every competitive game of the season so far, and a win in Turkey would set a club record of ten straight victories in all competitions at the start of a campaign.
Big names at Galatasaray
Galatasaray won the Turkish Super Lig for the fourth time in a row last season and are once again top of the pile after the first nine games of the current campaign. However, a heavy 4-0 loss to Trabzonspor just before the international break had the press asking a lot of questions about Okan Buruk’s side, who also struggled against Kasimpasa on Friday, but eventually salvaged a 3-1 win thanks to two late goals.
Standout players in the current squad include Colombian defender Davinson Sánchez, Uruguayn midfielder Lucas Torreira and former Barça man Ilkay Gündogan, who is German but of Turkish descent. Another German, Leroy Sané, and Rafael Leao of Portugal govern the sings, while the main striker is Victor Osimhen, who Barça fans will remember from recent games with Napoli. The Nigerian has only just returned from an adductor injury, so it will be interesting to see how much of a part he gets to play against the blaugrana. Wilfried Singo is repordesly the only other fitness concern in the rival camp.
Last season, Galatasaray made it out of the League Phase and defeated Juventus in an extraordinary pair of games in the first knockout round before eventually being soundly defeated by Liverpool in the round of 16.
This time round, and despite scoring first, they opened with a 3-1 defeat at Sporting Lisbon, and will be looking for a better result now that they are playing before their vociferous own fans for the first time.
The 53,387 capacity Ali Sami Yen Stadium is renowned for having one of the greatest atmospheres in the world, as Hansi Flick himself acknowledged in his pre-game press conference.
Previous meetings
This will be the eleventh competitive meeting between the sides, and Barça have very much had the upper hand in the first ten, only losing once, way back in 1994. In fact, the Turks have a pretty sorry record all round against La Liga clubs, winning just one of the last 22 meetings.
Meanwhile, Barça have won on their last three visits to Turkey, the last three of which were all against today’s opposition, the most recent case being a 2-1 win in the Europa League in 2022.
Team news
Hansi Flick has taken the same squad with him that beat Getafe 3-0 at the weekend. Raphinha remains out as primarily cautionary measure, Frenkie de Jong is close but not close enough to a comeback, while Christensen and Roony are also unavailable. Pau Cubarsí and Joao Cancelo were both rested at the weekend and should be especially fresh for this one, while none of Pedri, Fermín, Rodri, Olmo or Gordon played the full game on Saturday eith