Wayne Rooney was on the scoresheet the last time Manchester United faced Fenerbahçe, though he only scored a late consolation goal in a 2-1 defeat. Having won just one of their last six fixtures, the Red Devils will be keen to avoid a similar result eight years on.
By Neel Shelat
A shaky start for the Special One
There was a lot of fanfare when José Mourinho’s move to Fenerbahçe was announced this summer. He was amply supported in the transfer window too with new arrivals including loan deals for Allan Saint-Maximin, Sofyan Amrabat and Filip Kostić, and the Süper Lig’s most expensive player, Youssef En-Nesyri. The expectation, then, was no less than the club’s first league title in a decade.
So far, things are not going smoothly, Fener were eliminated from the UEFA Champions League qualifiers at the hands of Lille, failed to win their domestic season-opener against newly-promoted Göztepe and worst of all, lost to city rivals Galatasaray in what was their first meeting of the season.
There already are murmurs of a negative environment in the dressing room, so the Portuguese tactician seems to be under pressure already. Especially in recent years, Mourinho has developed into much more of a cup expert, so he may well have to rely on his exploits in the Europa League to protect his position as long as possible.
United looking for their first UEL win of the season
The new format of the Europa League makes it so that two-thirds of the teams that enter the group stage will advance to the knockouts. So, it would take quite a catastrophic campaign for Manchester United to fail to advance, but they will be keen to register their first win of the season after drawing both their matches so far – against FC Twente and Porto. The Red Devils should aim for a top-eight finish to skip the first knockout round, which will be held in February, on what would be the Thursdays either side of a Premier League fixture against Tottenham Hotspur.
United have had incessant injury issues dating back to last season, so the less congested they can make their fixture schedule, the better their chances will be of achieving something at the end of the season. At present, they will be without as many as seven first-team players for this fixture, so it will be a depleted squad that travels to Türkiye. They will also be without the suspended Bruno Fernandes.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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