On Thursday night, St. Johnstone and Galatasaray meet in the second leg of the third qualifying round of the Europa League. The first leg in Istanbul finished 1-1, so it is all to play for in this clash.
St. Johnstone will be pleased with the first leg result, especially with the away goal. The result in the tough match should give the Scottish outfit a lot of confidence ahead of this second meeting.
Günaydın #Galatasaray Ailesi pic.twitter.com/wTh9MvDtI9— Galatasaray SK (@GalatasaraySK) August 11, 2021
Günaydın #Galatasaray Ailesi pic.twitter.com/wTh9MvDtI9
They will need that lift after drawing their opening two SPL matches against Ross County and Motherwell.
In truth, the Saints have a poor record in the Europa League of late, although they have only featured in the competition sporadically in recent years. The home side has won just one of their last ten matches in 90 minutes in European football’s secondary competition.
St. Johnstone have also won just one of their seven Europa League matches on home soil over 90 minutes and recorded one win in a penalty shootout.
Galatasaray kicked off the campaign in the Champions League, only to suffer a 7-2 aggregate hammering at the hands of Dutch side PSV Eindhoven in the second qualifying round of the competition.
This will certainly not be an easy game for the visitors, despite their status as favourites to progress to the play-off round.
The Turkish team have been in the Europa League a bit more consistently than their opponents. However, they have an underwhelming recent record in the competition. Despite suffering just one defeat in their last five games, they have also won just two of their last 12 matches in the competition.
Galatasaray have also struggled for results on their travels in the Europa League, winning just one of their previous six away games in the competition.
Forebet predicts that Galatasaray will progress to the next round of the Europa League by recording a victory in a high-scoring encounter.