Champions League
2012-09-19 - Manchester United vs Galatasaray
A Sports Betting Pick by ROzsolt
Football : Champions League group stages
Venue: Old Trafford, Manchester (ENG)
Wednesday 19th September – Kickoff time: 20:45 GMT+1
Manchester United
Manchester United begin a record 17th consecutive CL campaign at home to Galatasaray hoping to avoid a repeat of last year's disappointment when they were knocked out in the group stage.
It is unlikely to see them leaving the competition prematurely again, they’ve been drawn into an accessible group with Braga, Galatasaray and CFR Cluj. Normally they should win this group comfortably.
United won just one home game in last term’s group stage against Otelul Galati, which made them suffer a group stage exit for the first time since 2005.
Manchester cannot be proud with their 3-1-2 record against Turkish sides at Old Trafford, with Besiktas being the last team to prevail in England against them in the 2009/10 group stage.
Wayne Rooney, Ashley Young, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling have all been ruled out for this game.
Galatasaray
For the Turkish champions Galatasaray this will be their first appearance in the UEFA Champions League group stage since 2006/07.
Galatasaray have made an excellent start of the season winning three of their four league games, but according to coach Fatih Terim they’ll need to raise their game in order to leave England undefeated.
They’ve made some interesting transfers in the summer transfer campaign, signing Cris from Lyon, Altintop from Real Madrid and Umut Bulut joining in from French side Toulouse.
They already had some big names in their squad like Elmander, Milan Baros, Felipe Melo or Eboue, not to mention charismatic coach Fatih Terim who brought them back to the top of Turkish football after a grim period, so they have the potential to make some damage in this group.
Tomas Ujfalusi has been ruled out, he is likely to be out for the majority of the season with a serious knee injury.
The Betting Verdict
Galatasaray have never won a game in England (0-3-4) with their most recent trip ending in a 3-2 defeat at Liverpool in the 2006/07 group stage.
Sir Alex Ferguson will surely field his strongest side for this match, so I expect Galatasaray’s winless run in England to continue.
Galatasaray should play without pressure here, I am aware that every point counts, but after all their battle is with Braga and CFR Cluj for the second place, so a defeat here would not be disastrous or even out of the ordinary.
That is why I don’t expect them to just sit back and try to absorb the pressure, mainly because they are not known for their defensive solidness, so their only chance here would be to make some damage on their own, they certainly have some quality players in front that could cause problems to United’s defense.
I expect Manchester to take advantage of their superior European experience, they are also playing at home and that’s always an important factor to determine the winner in a game like this.
The Statistics :
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Pick :
Manchester United 3-1 Galatasaray
BEST BETTING TIP :
Take Man Utd team total - over 2.5 goals at 2.10 at Bet365Confidence: 6/10
