Manchester United travel to Turkey to take on Istanbul Basaksehir in the Champions League on Wednesday night in a much-needed reprieve from this past weekend home loss to Arsenal.
Who is Istanbul Basaksehir?
The game will take place at the Fatih Terim Stadium, named after the legendary Turkish manager who has spent almost all but one of the last 27 years alternating between spells in charge of Galatasaray and the Turkish national team.
Crowned Turkish champions for the first time in their history last season, this is Basaksehir’s maiden attempt at navigating the Champions League group stage although they haven’t fared very well, losing to both PSG and RB Leipzig.
Basaksehir played top-flight football for the first time in 2006 and were later relegated back to Turkey’s second tier in 2013. They returned to the top flight a year later and have never finished outside the top four in the six full seasons since.
Last season, Basaksehir started in the Champions League qualifying rounds, but defeat to Olympiacos resulted in dropping into the Europa League group stage. They topped a group containing Borussia Monchengladbach, Roma, and Wolfsberger, before then beating Sporting CP in the last 32. They could even have faced United then but lost to Copenhagen in the last 16.
United fans will enjoy seeing former Old Trafford favorite Rafael da Silva following his free transfer from Lyon.
Manchester United Team News
This “should” be a relatively easy match for United but who knows anymore. It wouldn’t be a shock to see Dean Henderson in the nets since this almost like a Cup match. Plus David de Gea hasn’t had a rest in a while
The backline should be unchanged from the past matches with Wan-Bissaka, Tuanzebe, Maguire, Shaw getting the call. Eric Bailly and Alex Telles are out so there aren’t many options in defense.
The forgotten man, Donny Van De Beek could get another Champions League start along with Matic, Fred, and Pogba in some sort of combination. Up front could see Anthony Martial and Edison Cavani or possibly Odion Ighalo.
Manchester United: De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Tuanzebe, Maguire, Shaw; Matic, Fred, Pogba, Van de Beek; Cavani, Martial.
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