Olimpija Ljubljana will look to cause an upset as they host Galatasaray in the third round of the UEFA Champions League. The hosts advanced to this round of qualifying after defeating Ludogrets on the road 3-2 on aggregate. The visitors defeated Zalgiris on the road 3-2 on aggregate.
Preview (Ljubljana vs. Galatasaray)
With 73 points, Olimpija won the Prva Liga championship for the first time since the 2017–18 campaign. They were six points ahead of Celje in second place and eleven points ahead of the league’s defending champions Maribor. Even though Joao Henriques’ team lost its final three games, they had already won the domestic league several weeks before to the end of the regular season due to their dominance. The team managed to hold on to a critical 1-1 draw at Stadium Ludogorets Arena before pulling off a thrilling 2-1 victory at this location last week due to a brace from Timi Max Elsnik. They defeated Valmeira in the first round of qualifying and entered the final round as the underdogs.
Olimpija began their domestic league campaign with a 2-1 loss to Koper. They came back with a dominant 5-0 victory over Rogaska the following weekend. These results have them in sixth place early in the season. It is noteworthy that Olimpija is unbeaten in their past three games at Stadion Stozice. They defeated Valmeira and Ludogorets at home in the competition’s earlier rounds. Galatasaray, the champions of the Turkish League, will aim to make their first appearance in the Champions League main draw since the 2019–20 campaign when they easily advanced to the group stages.
Last season, the visitors won the Super Lig for the 21st time with 88 points, finishing eight points ahead of Fenerbahce and on a six-match winning streak during which they scored 15 goals and allowed just one. Galatasaray had the greatest away record of any team in the league throughout the 36-game season. They have just four defeats while compiling 28 victories and four draws. The only qualifying round Okan Buruk’s team has ever participated in was against Bulgarian champions Ludogorets. Despite being pushed all the way to the finish, they were able to clinch a 1-0 victory in the second leg following a tense 2-2 draw in the first leg.
Team News
In the hosts’ most recent league game against Rogaska, Saar Fadida struck a hat-trick. After being benched against Ludogorets, he will be requesting a return to the starting lineup. Elsnik almost certainly will preserve his spot in the midfield with Agustin Doffo and Ivan Posavec thanks to his goals in both legs of the previous round. Over the course of the summer transfer window, Galatasaray added a number of new players. However, a number of players are currently ineligible to participate. Kerem Demirbay, Alpaslan Ozturk, Ogulcan Caglayan, and Christian Luyindama are among those who have not yet registered, and Nicolo Zaniolo might be forced to withdraw due to injury.
Their preseason performance wasn’t exactly stellar. Galatasaray will start this game as the overwhelming favorite. They will be reasonably certain of taking a first-leg advantage back to NEF Stadyumu the following week. Galatasaray are the clear favorites to win the game, although there isn’t much to choose between these teams. We think the Turkish team will advance to the playoffs. We believe that with this last level, they will need to secure the victory at home.
Ljubljana 1 – 1 Galatasary
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