Galatasaray vs Lazio

UEFA Europa League Group E gets underway at the Türk Telekom Stadyumu with an exciting encounter between Galatasary and Lazio.

Galatasaray came from a half-time deficit to beat Rangers in their decisive second-leg play-off tie and book their place in the Europa League group stage for the first time since 2009/10. Galatasaray and Lazio have been drawn together just once in the group stages of European competition, with both sides winning home fixtures 1-0 back in the 2001/02 UEFA Champions League. Excluding qualifiers, the Turkish giants have secured just two victories from their last 30 home matches across major European competitions (D9, L19). Indeed, since a 3-0 triumphs over Lokomotiv Moscow in September 2018, the hosts have gone winless in their subsequent 13 outings in European competition proper (D4, L9). There’s still a good omen here, given that Galatasaray’s last triumphant European campaign begun against Italian opposition.

Meanwhile, after winning his first Serie A matches in charge of Lazio by an aggregate score of 9-2, Maurizio Sarri saw his side succumb to a 2-0 away loss to AC Milan at the weekend. The Italians’ hopes of bouncing back look pretty slim, as they’ve failed to beat Galatasaray in both previous European H2Hs in Istanbul (D1, L1). What’s more, the ‘Biancocelesti’ have suffered eight defeats in their last ten UEFA-sanctioned fixtures (W2) and lost four group stage games in the 2020/21 Champions League campaign. Ahead of the kick-off, the Italian visitors have suffered five consecutive reverses in Europa League road trips, worryingly conceding 2+ goals on each occasion. However, Lazio boss Sarri boasts an impressive 76% win percentage in his managerial Europa League matches (GP25 – W19, D4, L2) and won the competition the last time he featured in it with Chelsea in 2018/19.