Galatasaray has historically been the most successful Turkish side in the UEFA Champions League, reaching the quarterfinals several times, but in recent seasons, Cimbom has become known for under-performing given the ever-prevalent talent on its roster.
Finally, in 2025/26, Galatasaray has a great opportunity to advance to the Round of 16 for the first time since 2013/14, as it has a 5-2 lead over Juventus after the first leg of the teams’ Knockout Playoff tie. The return leg is set to begin on Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET (9 p.m. local) in Turin.
La Vecchia Signora are -200 favorites to win the second leg (+370 to advance to the Round of 16) at DraftKings Sportsbook, and Cimbom is +450 (-550 to advance). There are +400 odds that the teams will draw, which would result in Galatasaray’s advancement.
Juventus vs. Galatasaray prediction, pick
At halftime in the first leg, it looked as if the Serie A side would advance comfortably, as it led 2-1 in Istanbul and had produced more expected goals than the hosts. But Cimbom produced the second half of a lifetime, smashing home four goals — including two by Noa Lang, which were his first two goals for Galatasaray — and Juventus was barely able to get anything going in the attack, controlling just 33.7% of the possession and attempting only two shots. For all of Cimbom’s inconsistency this tournament, it chose a good time to play at a peak level.
The most confidence-inspiring aspect of Galatasaray’s win was arguably Victor Osimhen’s performance. The Nigerian didn’t have a great game, putting only one of his three shots on target and registering one assist, but the team around him stepped up, with defensive midfielder Gabriel Sara and defender Davinson Sánchez both scoring. As is, Cimbom got nine of its 22 shots on target and completed an impressive 85.2% of its passes into the final third even with Osimhen being fairly quiet, so it could be even better if he can get in a rhythm. Galatasaray wasn’t a particularly impressive defensive team during the League Phase, but it performed well in the first leg, winning both ground and aerial duels at a high rate and recording 29 combined tackles + interceptions. Perhaps Cimbom is due for some defensive regression in the second leg, but with a three-goal edge, it has more than enough cushion to survive that.
La Vecchia Signora’s low ground duel win rate — the lowest in the competition — came back to bite it in the first leg, as it’s hard to win with just a 41.8% duel win rate. It also did a bad job with its distributional play, completing just 79.9% of its passes overall, which, across the full competition, would be the second-worst of any team to advance to the knockout stage. Just two of Juventus’ 15 crosses ended up finding the target, less than half of its typical accuracy, and starboy Kenan Yıldız missed his only shot. La Vecchia Signora could definitely mount a comeback if Yıldız can be more impactful, but Juventus has only scored more than two goals twice in this tournament, so it’ll need a special performance and significantly better defense to have a chance. With Yıldız dealing with a calf injury and defender Bremer likely out, that’ll be a tough task.
With its three-goal lead, Galatasaray may even be able to afford to rest some of its key players like Osimhen with a critical match against fellow Süper Lig title contender Beşiktas coming up at the start of March, but that doesn’t seem like Okan Buruk’s way. While Cimbom has been questionable on the road, losing 5-1 at Eintracht Frankfurt on the first day of the League Phase, La Vecchia Signora has been too bad in the passing lanes to deal with Galatasaray’s relatively patient attack. One goal for Cimbom should be enough to seal its advancement, and it won’t matter how many goals Juve scores after that.
