Gala Roars Past Juve: Galatasaray vs Juventus Knockout Play-Offs Game 1 Recap
- therookiereporters
- 9 hours ago
- 4 min read
An old rivalry rekindles in Istanbul. Galatasaray hosts Juventus in the Knockout Play-Off Round of the Champions League. This article covers everything you need about the first game between the Turkish champions and the Italian side in RAMS Park.
The Turkish Lions and La Vecchia Signora (The Old Lady) have quite the history in the Champions League. The sides played against each other on 6 occasions before. Galatasaray won 2 of those games, Juve came out victorious in only 1 game and the rest of them ended up in a draw. Coming into this game, Okan Buruk’s Galatasaray is in form with 4 wins in the last 5 of their fixtures and has the home advantage in the first game of the round. Meanwhile, Spalletti’s Juventus is struggling to find form and a clean sheet. Only 1 win in the last 5 games, conceded 9 goals and lost crucial points against local rivals, one of them being a controversial derby against Inter. In the Turkish side, midfielder Mario Lemina is ruled out from the first game against his former team. Meanwhile in the Old Lady, strikers Vlahovic, Milik, David and right-back Emil Holm are injured. The last time these teams faced each other was in the 2013/14 season Group Stage, when Galatasaray shocked Juventus with a 1-0 victory at home in a snow-effected fixture.
Without further ado, let’s have a look at the starting elevens!:
Galatasaray XI: Cakir - Sallai - Sanchez - Bardakci - Jakobs - Torreira - Sara - B. A. Yilmaz - Akgün - Lang - Osimhen
Juventus XI: Di Gregorio - Kalulu - Bremer - Kelly - Cambiaso - K. Thuram - Locatelli - Koopmeiners - Conceição - Yildiz - McKennie
The First Half
While receiving a throw-in from Cambiaso, Yidiz loses the ball to Victor Osimhen. Juventus defence can’t clear the ball well and Gabriel Sara takes a strong shot to the bottom corner to give Galatasaray the lead in the 15th minute. However in the next position, Cambiaso makes a good run on the left side and crosses the ball. Kalulu’s header is denied by Ugurcan Cakir, but Koopmeiners follows the rebound and equalises for Juventus in the 16th minute. After the equaliser, Cambiaso sees a yellow card in the 18th minute, which means he’ll miss the second game in Turin. The Italian left-back comes close to see a second yellow as well, but gets away with it. Koopmeiners makes it a brace in the 32nd minute, when he plays a one-two with Weston McKennie, finds the ball and sends a rocketship into Gala’s net. Right after the second goal, Luciano Spalletti takes off an injured Bremer for Federico Gatti. Tensions rise on the pitch a bit, as both managers have a word with the 4th official during the increasing foul plays. Spalletti ends up seeing a yellow card in the heated minutes. Despite having the ball possession and finding a few more chances with Yunus Akgün and Sallai to equalise, the first half ends in a 2-1 score against Galatasaray, who took the lead first.
The Second Half
Juventus begins the second half with a substitution, Spalletti subs in Juan Cabal for Andrea Cambiaso, most likely in order to not risk going a man down. However the sub instantly backfires, when Cabal’s missed interception led Yilmaz to shoot, which rebounds from Di Gregorio to Noa Lang, equalising for Galatasaray. But the Colombian left-back isn’t done yet. Around the 60th minute, Cabal brings down Yilmaz close to the left side of Juve’s box and gets booked for the next game as well. The first goalscorer, Gabriel Sara, takes the given freekick and ex-Spurs centre-back Davinson Sanchez’s small touch ends up in Juve’s net, Galatasaray takes the lead 3-2. Things get even worse for the Old Lady, when Cabal sees a second yellow a few minutes later and leaves Juve with 10 men on the pitch. After losing a man in their leaky defence, Juventus starts crumbling even more. Trying to clear the ball from a pressing Galatasaray, Khepren Thuram gives the ball back to Lloyd Kelly, who loses the ball to Osimhen. Noa Lang, once again finds a free ball in the box and completes his brace in the 74th minute to make it 4-2. The deficit becomes 3 goals, when the returned and newly-subbed Sascha Boey scores the Turkish Lions’ 5th and last goal of the night. This goal also marks the first time Galatasaray scored 5 against an opponent in the Champions League and also the first time Juventus conceded 5 from anyone in this competition. So, the first game of the Knockout Play-Offs between Galatasaray and Juventus ends in an unexpected 5-2 victory for the Turkish Lions.
With this result, Galatasaray brings a 3 goal advantage to Turin next Wednesday. It isn’t impossible odds, but it is quite a challenging position to be in for the Italian side. Okan Buruk’s men take Gala’s third win against Juve and take a huge step in the Round of 16, in which the winner of this match-up will either face Liverpool or Spurs. Gabriel Sara has been chosen the Man of the Match and the new arrival Noa Lang shone in the Turkish side. Baris Alper Yilmaz and Victor Osimhen also became key figures to exploit Juventus’ already leaky defence. On the other side, this result makes it 4 games without a win for Juventus. Teun Koopmeiners seemed to be the only good thing about Juve in the game, but his brace wasn’t enough to bring them a result. Things seemed fine for Juventus in the first half, however, Luciano Spalletti’s substitution has proven to be very costly for the Old Lady. Both of their left-backs are now added to the missing list for the second game. If none of their injured strikers return from injury and Bremer also ends up injured until next week, the second game might be a nightmare that has only just begun in the first game.
In conclusion, Galatasaray and Juventus gave us a 7-goal mayhem to enjoy. The return game will take place on 25th of February and Juve will try to turn around a 3-goal deficit at their home. Next week on Wednesday, we’ll see who emerges victorious and continues their path through the Round of 16.
Article written by Emre Albas © Emre Albas 2026
