St. Johnstone vs Galatasaray prediction for Thursday’s Europa League qualification round semi-final clash at McDiarmid Park at Perth. After a positive 1-1 result in Istanbul, St Johnstone will host Galatasaray in the second leg of the Europa League showdown. Follow along for our free prediction and betting tips.
St. Johnstone in with a chance after a good 1st leg result
This is St. Johnstone’s eighth participation in the European competitions. The Scottish side’s best result was reaching the third qualifying round in 2013-14, and 2015-16 and this season. Furthermore, St. Johnstone have never won the Scottish Premier League. Their only success came in the Scottish Cup winning it twice and the League Cup once.
Hence, after winning the Scottish Cup last season St Johnstone took part in the Europa League. This season they started their domestic campaign last weekend by drawing with Motherwell. Before that, coach Davidson’s team had a very good result against an ambitious Galatasaray side drawing 1-1. In addition, St. Johnstone had chances to score with three shots at goal but Galatasaray’s goalkeeper made some great saves.
St. Johnstone Key Points
The more experienced Galatasaray favorites to pass
Galatasaray will have a second chance to straighten things up in this tie after a disappointing first-leg draw. The Turks had started the match convincingly hitting the post and creating a couple of dangerous chances. Against the run of events, St Johnstone opened up the scoring in the second half. After Galatasaray’s goalkeeper Muslera fouled Chris Kane, he was shown the straight red card as Jason Kerr converted the penalty.
The 22-time Turkish champions reacted quickly though and equalized after two minutes. That followed a 30-minute goalless period to see the match ended 1-1. Fatih Terim’s side is the only Turkish club to have won a European trophy. That was the Uefa Cup and the Super Cup in 2000. Terim will have a very offensive approach to the second leg with the use of the experience he has in his team.
Galatasaray Key Points
St Johnstone vs Galatasaray Prediction
Despite one of their best results ever to have achieved in Europe, St Johnstone are still the underdogs in this match. As a result, we see that Vbet is offering odds of 4.10 for the Scots to win.
As we mentioned before, Fatih Terim has a very experienced side. Having said that, the Turks are having some defensive problems with just three clean sheets on ten matches.
We still believe Galatasaray are capable of qualifying to the next round. The red card of Muslera had a big impact on the outcome of the first leg match and we think Terim will urge his team to be more decisive and careful.
St Johnstone vs Galatasaray Betting Tips
Galatasaray to Qualify 1.49 at Vbet
1 or 2 and Under 3.5 goals 1.67 at Vbet