Galatasaray vs. VfB Stuttgart preview: Team news and predicted lineups

VfB Stuttgart will hope to extend their winning streak to three games in all competitions when they face Turkish champions Galatasaray in one of the first two games of Champions League matchday 4. Sebastian Hoeneß's men are currently in the automatic qualification spot for the Round of 16, while the hosts took their first points of the European campaign at Lille in the previous round.

After back-to-back Bundesliga defeats to relegation-battling HSV and Borussia Mönchengladbach sides, the mood in Stuttgart was at its lowest this season. However, the Swabians responded by knocking out Paderborn from the cup with ten-man before their impressive 4-2 win in Leverkusen on Saturday.

Deniz Undav, who is still looking for his first league goal, was the matchwinner in the DFB-Pokal, while fellow striker Ermedin Demirović scored back-to-back Bundesliga braces in addition to leading the scoring chart in the Champions League.

Before their home game against the in-form Werder Bremen, the Swabians could take a huge leap in their bid to qualify for the knockout stage of the Champions League for the first time since 2009/10. This is already the second time in the season that VfB play three consecutive games away from home.

Galatasaray maintained their lead at the top of Super Lig table with a 4-0 win at Konyaspor on Friday. Rafael Leao scored his first goal for the club, while the league's joint-top-scorer Victor Osimhen grabbed his 10th strike of the campaign in all competitions.

Head-to-head 

This will be the first head-to-head fixtures between the two historic clubs. The Turkish giants faced German clubs 33 times so far with a record of 7-13-13. Hoeneß's troops narrowly lost to Fenerbahçe away from home in the league phase of last season's Europa League.

Team News

In what could be considered as a mind game to unravel their opponents, Gala's director of development Fatih Demireli opened up about his club's pursuit of Demirović and Bilal El Khannouss in an interview with Kicker. Both players are expected to make the starting lineup after scoring in the 4-2 win over Leverkusen.

Angelo Stiller missed Saturday's game due to a groin injury, and he's not expected to be included in the traveling squad. Josha Vagnoman and Leo Sauer are also unlikely to return before the international break. Former captain Atakan Karazor could start on his return to Türkiye, for whom he played twice at the World Cup.

In addition to star striker Osimhen and former Germany internationals Leroy Sane and Ilkay Gundogan, Roland Sallai and Ismael Jakobs have previous Bundesliga experience from Galatasaray’s squad.

Predicted Lineups

Click here to see our Galatasaray vs. VfB Stuttgart predicted  lineups.