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Galatasaray will open its 2026-27 UEFA Champions League campaign away to Sporting in Lisbon on Tuesday, looking to build on last season's run to the last 16 while trying to turn around a difficult record in both European away games and Champions League openers.
The match at Jose Alvalade Stadium will kick off at 10 p.m. Türkiye time and will be officiated by Norwegian referee Espen Eskas. It will be broadcast in Türkiye on TRT 1 and the Tabii platform.
Galatasaray earned direct entry into the Champions League after winning the 2025-26 Turkish Super Lig title and will now begin their 19th season in Europe's top club competition.
The Lisbon fixture will also mark Galatasaray's 341st match in European competitions and their first UEFA meeting with Sporting, who will become the Turkish side's 114th different European opponent.
Coach Okan Buruk will have to work around several absences for the opening fixture, with Victor Osimhen, Mario Lemina and Wilfried Singo all ruled out through injury.
Osimhen and Lemina were injured during Galatasaray's fourth-round Super Lig game against Basaksehir FK, while Singo picked up an injury in training.
Kaan Ayhan, Arda Unyay, Kazimcan Karatas, Eyup Aydin and Can Armando Guner are also unavailable because they were not included in Galatasaray's UEFA squad.
The defensive absences could open the door for new signing El Chadaille Bitshiabu. The 21-year-old French center back, who joined on loan from Leipzig near the end of the transfer window, could make his Galatasaray debut if Buruk brings him into the lineup.
One of the main storylines in Lisbon will involve Galatasaray's new signing Rafael Leao, who is set to come up against the club where he started his career.
Leao joined Sporting's youth system in 2012 and stepped up to the senior team in the 2017-18 season, scoring twice in five official appearances before moving to French side Lille in 2018 for around 20 million euros.
His 17-year-old brother Paulo Simao remains with Sporting and currently plays for the club's under-23 team.
Galatasaray also has other players with experience in Portuguese football. Deniz Gul, signed from Porto, has faced Sporting five times without scoring, while Renato Nhaga played against the Lisbon club twice before joining Galatasaray from Casa Pia and lost both matches.
Although Galatasaray reached the Champions League last 16 last season, their recent record in opening games of the competition has been difficult.
The Istanbul club has won only one of their last 10 opening matches in the Champions League group or league phase, drawing four and losing five. Their only victory during that run came with a 3-0 home win over Lokomotiv Moscow in the 2018-19 season.
Galatasaray has also struggled away from home in Europe, winning only one of their last 15 European away matches. That victory came last season when they beat Ajax 3-0 in the Netherlands, while the other 14 games brought three draws and 11 defeats.
Their broader Champions League form has also been inconsistent, with seven victories in their last 30 matches in the group or league phase and beyond.
Despite those figures, Galatasaray head into the new European campaign after putting together one of their stronger recent Champions League seasons.
They collected 10 points in last season's league phase against Eintracht Frankfurt, Liverpool, Bodo/Glimt, Ajax, Union Saint-Gilloise, Monaco, Atletico Madrid and Manchester City, finishing 20th and advancing to the knockout stage.
Galatasaray then knocked out Juventus in the knockout phase play-offs before Liverpool ended their campaign in the last 16.
Buruk and his players will now try to go one step further after returning directly to the tournament as Turkish champions.
They have also started the domestic season unbeaten. After drawing with Arca Corum FK in their opening league match, Galatasaray picked up successive wins over Erzurumspor FK, Goztepe and Basaksehir.
Their results have remained positive, although the team has conceded twice in three of their four league matches, with set pieces contributing to their defensive problems.
Sporting, meanwhile, come into the new campaign after reaching the Champions League quarterfinals last season.
The Portuguese club finished seventh in the league phase after recording five wins, one draw and two defeats, which sent them directly into the last 16. They then eliminated Bodo/Glimt before going out to Arsenal in the quarterfinals.
Sporting finished second in the Portuguese league last season to secure another direct Champions League place.
Their young squad includes Goncalo Inacio, Zeno Debast, Eduardo Quaresma, Maxi Araujo, Sergi Altimira, Issa Doumbia, Rodrigo Zalazar, Nestory Irankunda, Geny Catamo, Luis Suarez and Fotis Ioannidis.
Sporting have also started the domestic season strongly, taking four wins and one draw from five league matches while scoring 14 goals. Luis Suarez has scored four times, Flavio Goncalves three and Ioannidis twice.
Wednesday's match will take Galatasaray to 341 games in European competition, where they have so far recorded 121 wins, 90 draws and 129 defeats.
It will also be their 170th appearance in Europe's premier club competition when matches from the European Champion Clubs' Cup and the Champions League are combined.
Galatasaray remain Türkiye's only club to have won two major European trophies, lifting the UEFA Cup in the 1999-2000 season before beating Real Madrid to win the UEFA Super Cup in 2000.
Their latest attempt to add another chapter to that European history begins in Lisbon against a Sporting side that reached the final eight of the Champions League only a season ago.
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