Fiorentina vs Galatasaray 12/08/19

12 August 2019

Fiorentina and Galatasaray will face-off at the Stadio Artemio Franchi for a friendly fixture that will be Fiorentina’s final pre-season game ahead of the new campaign.

The hosts’ three-game winning run from the beginning of their pre-season has been brought to a halt in the International Champions Cup where Fiorentina suffered back-to-back losses to Arsenal and Benfica. Still, the Viola go into this fixture off the back of a narrow 1-0 win over the Italian lower-league outfit Livorno, which was only the second time in their last 13 outings that they’ve managed to keep a clean sheet. Before that clash with Livorno, all five of Fiorentina’s previous pre-season games have produced over 2.5 goals while three of them saw both teams score. Ever since a 7-1 triumph over Roma in Coppa Italia back in January, Vincenzo Montella’s players have struggled to pick up a home win in the subsequent ten outings against high-profile rivals (D7, L3).

Fresh from winning the Turkish Super Cup, the visitors are aiming for their fourth straight victory, with two of their previous being settled by a narrow one-goal margin. The reigning Turkish champions have seemingly managed to overcome a challenging period during which they’ve suffered three consecutive defeats, all of which have produced over 2.5 goals and seen both teams score. Notably, none of Galatasaray’s last ten games has ended in a draw (W7, L3), with eight of them seeing the Lions score 2+ match goals. Fatih Terim still has to worry about the fact his players failed to keep a blank sheet eight times across the same period, allowing two or more goals in half of those occasions.