Galatasaray’s plan to upset Man United in Champions League

It’s 30 years since Manchester United arrived in Istanbul and have been greeted by a whole bunch of snarling Galatasaray followers and an indication that learn “Welcome to hell.”

In November 1993, Sir Alex Ferguson’s workforce wanted to win to keep away from a shock exit. Amid a hostile environment, which started the second the aircraft touched down in Turkey, they may solely draw 0-0. United return to Istanbul this week in an identical state of affairs with their Champions League marketing campaign hanging by a thread.

They’re in this place, in half, due to a 3-2 defeat to Galatasaray at Old Trafford in October, a efficiency that summed up United’s season to date. The recreation was plagued by defensive errors, a scarcity of psychological energy in key moments and, in the end, it was one other poor end result. The 3-0 win at Everton on Sunday was a step in the best route, however there was nonetheless a spell in the primary half at Goodison Park when United appeared destined to concede.

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Worryingly for Erik ten Hag and his workers, enjoying on that nervousness fashioned a part of Galatasaray’s recreation plan forward of their recreation in Manchester.

“We saw that Manchester United have good ideas, but they are struggling sometimes when they are facing a team with that high intensity in the pressing,” Galatasaray assistant Ismael Garcia Gomez says in an unique interview with ESPN. “In the games we saw, they had difficulties. Especially in the first half when things aren’t going well, we could tell even by video that the players were getting a bit nervous because it’s not simple. It’s what I saw at Old Trafford too.

“The stadium and the followers have been incredible, however you’ll be able to really feel in the setting that issues should not going effectively and typically this will block the gamers. The gamers that they’ve are prime quality, however when there’s a block, it is tough.”

United twice led against their Turkish opponents, but were twice pegged back and with the score at 2-2, André Onana tried to play out from the back in a sequence that ended with United losing possession close to their own penalty area, Casemiro conceding a penalty and then being sent off. Mauro Icardi missed from the spot, but scored three minutes later to win the game.

“The concept was to set a excessive tempo in the urgent and power errors,” Garcia added. “Not anticipate errors, however to power errors. That excessive urgent additionally made us concede conditions and the primary [United] objective is due to that.

“In Spain we say ‘the blanket cannot cover everything’ and if you want to force mistakes like we did with the penalty and the red card for Casemiro, also we might face the situation we had when United scored for 1-0. They have quality players. If the ball isn’t always covered in our pressing, they put the ball into the space, they have good runners and clinical finishers. We want to take the risk and we didn’t plan to go 1-0 down, but we planned to put United in difficulty when they had possession.”

Part of the calculated danger, in accordance to Garcia, was to assault Marcus Rashford.

Rashford arrange United’s first objective for Rasmus Højlund, however in the top he had such a tough evening that he was substituted earlier than the 70-minute mark. He’s suspended for the return recreation in Istanbul after he was despatched off in the 4-3 defeat to FC Copenhagen, one other end result that contributed to United preventing for his or her lives in the Champions League.

“In possession, we wanted to exploit a lot Rashford’s side and attack him a lot,” Garcia stated. “If you saw the game, we attacked a lot with [full-back] Sacha Boey. But this is tricky because if we don’t do well, then there is a potential for transitions. We tried to be brave and go 100% to win.

“What is healthier: to stop the transitions for Rashford or to assault him? I do not know. It’s about doing what you imagine and forcing errors, placing the opponent in a tough or tough state of affairs. You take dangers and typically it goes towards you, but it surely’s what we imagine.”

Galatasaray plan to make things uncomfortable for United again on Wednesday as they eye their own place in the round of 16 of the Champions League for the first time since 2013-14.

Back in 1993, after a 3-3 draw between the teams at Old Trafford, Galatasaray manager Reiner Hollmann warned Ferguson and his players “they will be ready for you on the airport” ahead of the second leg in Turkey, and he was right. Fans crowded the arrivals hall at the airport and spent the night outside the team hotel making so much noise that the players couldn’t sleep. There were even stories of hotel employees using broom handles to bang on the walls of neighbouring rooms.

After an ill-tempered goalless draw that knocked United out of the competition, there was a brawl in the tunnel involving players and staff from both teams, as well as Turkish police armed with batons and holding Rottweilers on chains. United forward Eric Cantona, sent off after the final whistle, was punched by a policeman and captain Bryan Robson ended up covered in blood courtesy of a huge cut on his arm suffered in the melee.

The atmosphere isn’t quite so intense in 2023, but Istanbul on a European night remains a tough place to play and there’s a reason why United have never beaten Galatasaray away in three previous attempts.

“It’s an enormous membership with huge significance in town and the nation,” Garcia says. “I’ve been fortunate sufficient to be in Serie A, in Spain and in Greece however I say to pals, do not come right here to watch Galatasaray: come for the environment. It’s superb. Amazing. There are some nice gamers who say that Galatasaray is probably the most tough environment they’ve performed in. That says loads.

“We are not going to speculate about what might happen in the last game [of the groups] so I think it’s going to be a very open game, like it was at Old Trafford. I don’t think either team will say ‘maybe a draw and then see what happens in the last game.’ No. Both teams have a chance to go through, so it should be an exciting game.”

United, backside of the group after three defeats from 4 video games, haven’t any different however to attempt to win. Do it, and so they’ll find a way to see a route into the knockout rounds. Anything lower than victory, nonetheless, and Galatasaray may have inflicted one other hellish reminiscence.