It was a “special night” for Bayern Munich on Saturday in the words of Harry Kane, as they recorded their joint-largest winning margin (4-0) away to their great rivals, Borussia Dortmund, whilst Kane himself became the first man to hit a hat trick in his debut Bundesliga Der Klassiker appearance. Another memorable evening beckons for the Bavarians if they can continue their perfect record in the UEFA Champions League (W3) as one more win seals their progression to the knockouts.
Anything other than a comfortable group stage campaign would be a shock for Bayern in truth, with the famous club making the knockouts in each of their previous 20 UCL campaigns. Solidifying those claims is a rock-solid record against Turkish opposition (W6, D1) as well as an irresistible attack which has scored a new Bundesliga record 38 goals after just ten games. That’s almost four per match on average.
Providing the opposition this time will be Galatasaray, a side with just one blot on their record across their last nine competitive games (W8, L1), which notably happened to be a 3-1 defeat to Bayern in the reverse fixture. They maintained their lead at the top of the Turkish Süper Lig with a pair of victories to follow that loss to Bayern, although they will need to defy long odds here if they wish to remain in or close to the top-two after this round.
That would be a commendable achievement considering Gala flopped out at the group stage in each of their last four UCL proper campaigns, with the first in that sequence featuring a pair of multi-goal defeats against Dortmund. At the very least, Galatasaray travel here with some momentum behind them, remaining unbeaten in ten straight European away games (W5, D5) since a loss to PSV in 2021/22.
Players to watch: Kingsley Coman scored his 62nd goal for Bayern Munich in the reverse fixture, and the Bavarians have never lost a game when he was on the scoresheet (W53, D3). Trying to outdo him will be Galatasaray’s Mauro Icardi, who failed to notch a goal contribution for the first time in six games over the weekend (G5, A2). That run includes goals in his last two UCL group appearances.
Hot stat: Including the reverse H2H, five of Bayern’s last six games featured over 1.5 first-half goals.
