Turkey is not a happy hunting ground for Manchester United.
On Thursday night the Red Devils travel to the cauldron of Fenerbahce, where Jose Mourinho stalks the touchline and venom pours from the stands.
It’s their third time travelling to the Istanbul-based club and they have twice tasted embarrassment at their hands.
United’s last win at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium was all the way back in 1996-97, when goals from David Beckham and Eric Cantona sealed a 2-0 victory over a team featuring Jay-Jay Okocha. So far, it is their only triumph there.
Indeed, it’s grim reading across the board in the nation where United were ‘welcomed to the Hell’ in 1993 – 10 visits, three wins, four defeats, three draws. Some almighty embarrassments over the years.
Manchester United are back at Fenerbahce, where they have lost two of three games
A hat-trick by Tuncay in 2004 sunk United 3-0, although they had already qualified from the group
Jose Mourinho, who also lost here in 2016 managing United, is now in the home dugout
Take, for example, their second visit to Fener in the Champions League group stages in 2004, where a second-string side put out by Sir Alex Ferguson were humbled 3-0.
A hat-trick from Tuncay, who would later play for Middlesbrough, Stoke, and Bolton, sunk a side captained by Phil Neville and demoted United to second in the last match of the group stages.
Fortunately for United, that match was ‘deader than a parrot in a Monty Python sketch’, as the Guardian wrote, as they had already qualified for the last 16 while Fenerbahce were cemented to drop into the UEFA Cup.
The stakes this time round are higher for Erik ten Hag, whose side have been held to frustrating draws by Twente and Porto in the Europa League this season.
More recent history also provides awkward memories for the United faithful. In 2016, two wonder goals saw Fenerbahce beat United 2-1 and leave them under threat of being eliminated from Europe’s secondary competition.
An overhead kick from Moussa Sow within the first 65 seconds gave the hosts a shock lead, before Jeremain Lens, on loan from Sunderland, silenced the away fans with a second-half free-kick. A late consolation from Wayne Rooney, brilliant though it was, did not suffice.
‘At the start it was like they were playing the Champions League final and we were playing a summer friendly – that’s the reality,’ a furious Jose Mourinho said after the defeat. ‘I think they deserved to win. Football is not just about quality, it’s also about effort, commitment, playing to the limits and giving everything.’
That said, United’s more memorable trips to Istanbul have come across town at Galatasaray – and mostly for the wrong reasons.
Manchester United were infamously ‘welcome to the Hell’ by Galatasaray fans at Istanbul Airport during their first visit there in the 1993-94 Champions League
Man United are always assured of a hot reception whenever they go to the Turkish capital to meet Galatasaray
Back in 1993, Premier League champions United were paired with Galatasaray in the second round of the then-fledgling Champions League.
Expected to breeze through, Alex Ferguson’s team were left astonished when Galatasaray came away from the first leg at Old Trafford with a 3-3 draw.
With three away goals, it meant the Turkish side only had to draw at their hostile Ali Sami Yen stadium to progress.
After the first leg, Galatasaray manager Reiner Hollmann warned: ‘They’ll be waiting for you. At the airport.’
He meant the famously passionate Galatasaray fans, hundreds of them crowding the arrivals area to greet United players with signs reading ‘Welcome to Hell’ and ‘this is your last 48 hours.’
Sensing his players might be rattled by the reception party, Ferguson joked at the pre-match press conference: ‘You’ve obviously never seen a Glasgow wedding.’
United arrived at the stadium the following night to be greeted by a cacophony of noise and a pall of smoke from red flares, the fans gathering inside hours before kick-off.
The Ali Sami Yen was known as ‘The Hell’ and certainly lived up to that nickname that night as a goalless draw saw United crash out of Europe. It was the most intimidating atmosphere Sir Alex Ferguson had ever seen.
Eric Cantona gets a police escort after being sent off in 1993 – moments before the mass brawl
Cantona wasn’t likely to back down from an argument after United crashed out on away goals
At the end, Eric Cantona told referee Kurt Rothlisberger some frank opinions about his performance and was sent off.
As Cantona walked towards the tunnel, he was given what he assumed was a police escort. But the policeman instead punched Cantona, leading to a tunnel brawl which saw Bryan Robson and even Ferguson himself wade in.
Steve Bruce recalled to the Daily Mail in 2016: ‘Hundreds of coppers with Rottweilers barking at you, straining on the leash. One started giving Eric some gyp, so Eric decided to give it back.
‘Now we’re all getting battered. Robson, captain of England, he’s in there. Typical Bryan, he’s swung this punch and there’s a hook on the wall and he’s ripped his arm completely open.
‘Blood everywhere. He’s screaming, and a big Turk comes in and boots him. So now we’re tearing into then, trying to fight our way out of there, and over my shoulder I see Fergie come flying back down the stairs. He’s taking his jacket off as he comes.
‘He’s over 50 years old, but he’s straight in, wades in.’
Cantona wanted to go back and ‘kill the f*****’ with the truncheon but was eventually calmed down. Shaken by that and the hail of missiles that rained down on the team bus heading back to the airport, Ferguson vowed never to come to Turkey again.
One hundred and sixty-four Manchester United fans were put in prison for flimsy reasons.
United have only won three of the 10 visits to Turkey and may not be looking forward to the tie
Fred joked to Bruno Fernandes that Fenerbahce ‘will kill you’ following the Europa League draw
Two Galatasaray fans were even killed during their own celebrations.
Naturally, United drew Galatasaray again the very next season. They were held goalless in Istanbul, a result that contributed to their group stage exit before IFK Gothenburg and Barcelona.
The ‘Welcome to Hell’ greeting United received when they first went to Istanbul in 1993 has gone down in infamy – made even worse by the humiliating European exit that followed.
The two teams met again the following season, with the Turks helping to block United’s passage through the Champions League group stage with a 0-0 draw.
United had to wait almost 20 years to try and get revenge in Turkey but it wasn’t to be. Burak Yilmaz scored a header and that was the only goal in a 1-0 win for the Turks over the three-time European champions, snatching away their 100 per cent record in Europe that campaign.
Then there was the madness of last season, a match that seemed to encapsulate everything about United’s inconsistency in a 3-3 tie.
This was a new Ali Sami Yen stadium, but it had all the torturous aspects of the old one. Home fans held up a huge ‘welcome to hell’ collage again with cards on their seats. Ominous.
United were left rueing two Andre Onana blunders in a 3-3 draw as they tossed away a two-goal advantage. Their hopes of getting out of the Champions League groups were left hanging by a thread and the draw eventually proved damning.
Andre Onana made two blunders at Galatasaray last season as United were pegged back from 2-0 up and had to settle for a 3-3 draw
The Man United shot-stopper looked crestfallen as United’s European campaign got worse
Demba Ba scored a truly bizarre goal as United lost 2-0 to Istanbul Basaksehir in 2020
Manchester United were described as a ‘laughing stock’ for their defending against him
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was targeted by European media for his tactical shortcomings
United roared into an early 2-0 lead through Alejandro Garnacho and Bruno Fernandes before Hakim Ziyech pulled one back from a free kick following a howler by Onana.
Scott McTominay put United 3-1 up soon after halftime but Ziyech slotted home another free kick under Onana’s arm and Muhammed Kerem Akturkoglu equalised for Galatasaray in the 71st minute – and that’s how it stayed.
There have been triumphs splintered between the agony. In 2009 came a 1-0 win at Besiktas to kick off the Champions League group stage, Paul Scholes heading home after a shot from Nani was blocked.
And how about this for some throwback names? In 2010 the Red Devils took a trip to Bursaspor, back in the days when they did not have a crocodile-themed stadium. Darren Fletcher, Gabriel Obertan, and Bebe were on the scoresheet to virtually seal United’s progression to the Champions League knock-out rounds.
That proved to be Obertan’s only goal for the club and Bebe didn’t fare much better on two.
United fans would rather forget about a visit to upstarts Istanbul Basaksehir 2020, when they were punished for a sloppy performance in a 2-0 loss.
After 12 minutes Demba Ba was allowed to score a truly bizarre goal – the first the club had ever scored in Europe’s elite competition. United seemed to have completely forgotten about the former Chelsea man. A simple clearance towards him near the halfway line and away he was, uncontested. It had almost been harder against Steven Gerrard.
As Spanish outlet Marca quizzed readers on ‘the goal nobody understands’, Norwegian outlet, in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s homeland, stuck the boot in by insisting that United are ‘worse than ever’. Spanish paper AS Diario insisted that the catalogue of errors for the Ba goal saw Solskjaer’s side become ‘the laughing stock of England’ because ‘no-one can believe the goal Basaksehir scored against United’.
Throwback name Bebe netted in a rare win on Turkish turf over Bursaspor in 2010
Sofyan Amrabat reflected on his time at Old Trafford in an exclusive interview with Mail Sport’s Aadam Patel
Edin Visca scored the other to seal another humiliation for United, who had been hammered 6-1 by Tottenham the month before.
They will be coming not to have their pants pulled down again. But familiar faces are hoping to do exactly that: Fred and Sofyan Amrabat.
‘I messaged Bruno (Fernandes) saying “We will kill you” and he responded that “No, we will kill you”, Fred told Mail Sport ahead of the clash.
‘But then my friend got a red card (against Porto) so he won’t play with us.’
It remains to be seen whether or not that will be a relief.
