Date: Wednesday, November 27 Venue: Santiago Bernabeu Kick-Off: 19:45 Real Madrid have already qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League, but can guarantee first place by seeing off Galatasaray in Group B.
Team News
Real Madrid will be without Cristiano Ronaldo for the visit of Galatasaray on Wednesday. The Portuguese talisman is out with a muscle strain and will be replaced by one of Angel Di Maria or Spain U-21 prospect Jesse, according to manager Carlo Ancelotti. Centre-back Raphael Varane, left-back Fabio Coentrao and midfielder Sami Khedira are also out. Roberto Mancini's Galatasaray also have a series of injury concerns of their own. Wesley Sneijder is a doubt and Hamit Altintop, Aydin Yilmaz, Engin Baytar, Yekta Kurtulus and Fernando Muslera are all sidelined. The good news is that former Chelsea star Didier Drogba is fit, and is expected to start after coming off the bench against Sivasspor at the weekend. (eurosport)
Key Stats
Real Madrid are unbeaten in 14 Champions League home games. The Spanish side have won 12 of those 14 games and drew the other two. Galatasaray have gone 15 Champions League away games without a clean sheet. Real Madrid have scored 14 goals in the current Champions League campaign, more than any other team. Didier Drogba is the top scoring African in Champions League history (42 goals) and the third highest scorer currently active in the competition (after Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo).
Likely Line-Ups
Real Madrid Casillas, Arbeloa, Pepe, Ramos, Marcelo, Casemiro, Illarramendi, Di Maria, Isco, Bale, Benzema Galatasaray Iscan, Eboue, Chedjou, Zan, Nounkeu, Colak, Inan, Melo, Riera, Drogba, B. Yilmaz
Match Preview
Galatasaray manager Roberto Mancini will be hoping to avoid another thrashing when he takes his side to the Bernabeu for their penultimate game in Group B. In the reverse of this fixture, Gala were humiliated 6-1 on home soil as Cristiano Ronaldo typically ran riot with a hat-trick. The good news is - where Mancini's side are concerned at least - the Portuguese megastar is absent tonight. Real Madrid vs Galatasaray has become something of a familiar European fixture this year, this being their forth encounter in the space of 12 months. They each faced each other over two legs in last season's Champions League quarter-finals, which Real won, before being knocked out by Borussia Dortmund in the semis. Gala's record against Madrid isn't pretty. The Turkish club have lost on four of their previous four visits to Spain, and haven't beaten them at the Bernabeu since 2000. When you also take into account the fact Madrid have scored more goals than any other side in this competition this season, and that Gala haven't kept a clean sheet in 15 away games, you worry for Mancini's men. Prediction 3-0
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
