Champions League: 2025-26 Play-Off 1st Leg Previews

Jack | Operations & Media Manager

Tue 17 Feb 2026

The knockout stage of the Champions League has arrived. The play-offs round, which features the teams that finished between 9th and 24th on the league table, begins today when Galatasaray host Juventus.

Here are your match previews for each first leg taking place across today and tomorrow.

Galatasaray vs. Juventus

This has the potential to be a fairly even tie, but Galatasaray will need to make the most of this home leg if they're to stand a chance of progression. Home advantage is a huge factor for Gala given the passion and intensity we see from their supporters in Istanbul, whereas away from home, they struggle to compete in this competition as we saw during the league phase (a win against a poor Ajax side being the exception). Galatasaray aren't short of momentum - they've won 4 straight matches convincingly since their defeat at Manchester City in this tournament - and that high-scoring form would suggest the hosts will at least find the net in this first leg.…

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