Belgium’s Club Brugge welcome Turkey’s Galatasaray to the Jan Breydel Stadium on Wednesday night as the two Champions League Group A rivals kick off their group stage campaigns.
The two teams have an uphill battle to emerge from Group A and into the knockout round. They were both drawn against Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid.
Many onlookers will feel Club Brugge and Galatasaray are competing for third in the group and a place in the Europa League after Christmas.
Club Brugge qualified for the Champions League group stage after competing in the third qualifying and the playoff rounds. Club Brugge defeated Ukraine’s Dynamo Kyiv 4-3 on aggregate in the third qualifying round and Austria’s LASK Linz 3-1 in the playoff round.
Clement knows @GalatasaraySK is more than just experience. #CluGal #UCL pic.twitter.com/KyTxIlTxOV— Club Brugge KV (@ClubBrugge) September 17, 2019
Clement knows @GalatasaraySK is more than just experience. #CluGal #UCL pic.twitter.com/KyTxIlTxOV
Galatasaray, on the other hand, earned an automatic place in the Champions League group stage following their Turkish Super Lig win last season. Fatih Terim will hope his team can emerge from the Champions League group stage, something it was unable to do last season.
The Turkish giants started the domestic season slowly picking up just one point from their first six available. They have improved in recent weeks collecting six points from six. Galatasaray currently sit fifth in the Super Lig.
Goals have been at a premium for Galatasaray. They have scored just five times in the Super Lig with three of those strikes coming against Kayserispor.
Galatasaray’s attacking issues are surprising due to their signing of Colombian forward Radamel Falcao in the transfer window. The former Monaco man will play alongside Ryan Babel in Galatasaray’s attack when they visit Belgium.
Club Brugge are coming off of a derby win over rivals Cercle Brugge. The blue and black picked up an important 2-0 victory pushing them to second in the Belgian First Division. They are now just two points behind league leaders Standard Liege.
Manager Philippe Clement has built a very defensive team at Club Brugge. They have conceded just two goals in six league matches. Meanwhile, Club Brugge’s attack has been strong with 14 goals tallied. Club Brugge have kept four clean sheets in the Belgian First Division this season already.
Wednesday night’s match at the Jan Breydel Stadium is set to be a low-scoring affair. Due to Club Brugge’s defensive style of football and Galatasaray’s inability to score goals, this game will see a stalemate.
Neither side will find the back of the net in what will be a missed opportunity with far more difficult group stage matches on the horizon. Club Brugge and Galatasaray are set for both teams not to score in a stalemate in Belgium.