Manchester United are up against it in a deafening Sukru Saracoglu Stadium tonight.
Erik ten Hag’s men landed in Istanbul on Wednesday with the intent of returning to Manchester with their first win of the Europa League campaign, having overseen a 1-1 draw with FC Twente and a 3-3 draw with FC Porto in their opening two matches.
Claiming all three points tonight won’t come easy, though, and Jose Mourinho will be adamant about getting one over on his former club when welcoming them to the side’s atmospheric home.
As expected, it started as a cagey affair. The Red Devils lead 1-0 inside the first 15 minutes courtesy of Christian Eriksen finishing off a devastating counter-attack, but prior to the opener, United were floundering.
Manuel Ugarte makes up for early shakiness
So much so that Samuel Luckhurst took to X/Twitter to highlight just how much one player was struggling, writing: “Someone in a red shirt needs to get a grip of Ugarte. He’s up against two midfielders Ten Hag let go (Sofyan Amrabat and Fred) to effectively make room for him, yet he’s looked fazed in the first ten minutes. Needs to show why MUFC invested £50m in him.”
Perhaps one of his teammates has given him a talking-to, as the Uruguayan was tremendous in the build-up to Eriksen’s strike and stopped a certain goal for the hosts around the 22nd-minute mark.
This week, while preparing to come face-to-face with his former club for the first time since his exit, Amrabat revealed that Ten Hag wanted him back at Old Trafford in the summer. However, technical director Jason Wilcox stepped in to block the deal, after which the midfielder joined Fenerbahce on a season-long loan with an obligation to buy.
