Galatasaray and Lazio will open their UEFA Europa League campaigns with a Group E match scheduled at the Turk Telekom Stadium on Thursday with kickoff at 19:45.
Galatasaray’s hopes of returning to the champions League were crashed by an aggregate 7-2 defeat at the hand of PSV Eindhoven in the second round of qualifiers that forced Fatih Terim’s side to fight for a Europa League spot.
Now the 22-time Turkish Champions find themselves in the Europa League after prevailing over both St Johnstone and Randers who knocked them out last season. The Turks head into this year’s tournament with an unbeaten run to their start of the Super Lig this season. They currently sit in the fifth spot with eight points after four league matches and they head into the match off the back of two draws including the two 2-2 to Trabzonspor last Sunday.
However, despite striking two goals in each of their four league matches so far this season, Galatasaray have been poor defensively as they have failed to keep a clean sheet in six successive matches at home across all competitions whish worrying since they face one of Europe’s powerhouses.
Meanwhile Lazio earned a direct qualification to the competition having secured a sixth-placed finish in the last year’s Serie A campaign. Under the new management of Maurizio Sarri made a strong start their new Serie A before they made a trip to Milan where they were smashed 2-0 by the hosts.
Prior to the defeat Lazio has shown some good form winning their opening two matches against Empoli and Spezia where they displayed their attacking prowess as they won the two matches with an aggregate of 9-2 after beating Spezia 6-1.
While Lazio have been impressive going forward with their main man Ciro Immobile leading the line with four goals so far, Sarri’s side have been struggling defensively as they have failed to keep a single clean sheet this season conceding four goals in their opening three matches.
Galatasaray vs Lazio head to head
Both sides have met in three occasions since 2012 with both claiming a victory while one ended in a draw.
- Lazio 3-1 Galatasaray 25/02/16
- Galatasaray 1-1 Lazio 18/02/16
- Galatasaray 1-0 Lazio 04/08/12
Home
- Trabzonspor 2-2 Galatasaray
- Kasimpasa 2-2 Galatasaray
- Galatasaray 2-1 Randers
- Galatasaray 2-1 Hatayspor
- Randers 1-1 Galatasaray
Away
- Milan 2-0 Lazio
- Lazio 6-1 Spezia
- Empoli 1-3 Lazio
- Lazio 1-1 Sassuolo
- Enschede 0-1 Lazio
Galatasaray team news
Marcao continues to serve his ban while Christian Luyindama might miss out due to muscle pain.
Lazio team news
Lazio have no reports of any missing players.
Prediction and odds
- Lazio win
- Both sides to score(no)
- Goals under 2.5
