Galatasaray’s plan to upset Man United in Champions League

It’s 30 years since Manchester United arrived in Istanbul and were greeted by hundreds of surly Galatasaray fans and a sign reading “Welcome to Hell.

In November 1993, Sir Alex Ferguson’s team needed a win to avoid a surprise exit and, in a hostile atmosphere that began as soon as the plane landed in the Turkish capital, they were unable to draw. than 0-0. United return to Istanbul this week in a similar situation, with their Champions League campaign hanging by a thread.

They are in this position, in part, because of a 3-2 defeat to Galatasaray at Old Trafford in October, a performance which summed up United’s season so far. The match was riddled with defensive errors, a lack of mental toughness in key moments and ultimately it was another poor result. The 3-0 win at Everton on Sunday was a step in the right direction, but there was still a moment in the first half at Goodison Park when United looked destined to concede.

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What is worrying for Erik Ten Hag and his team is that playing on this nervousness was part of Galatasaray’s game plan ahead of their match in Manchester.

“We have seen that Manchester United have good ideas, but they sometimes struggle against a team with such intensity in pressing,” Galatasaray assistant Ismael Garcia Gomez said in an exclusive interview with ESPN. “In the games we saw, they struggled. Especially in the first half, when things weren’t going well, you could see even on video that the players were getting a little nervous because it’s not simple. That’s what I saw at Old Trafford, too.

“The stadium and the fans have been fantastic, but you feel in the environment that things are not going well and sometimes it can block the players. The players they have are of great quality, but when there is a blockage , it’s difficult.”

United led twice against their Turkish opponents, but were caught behind on both occasions and with the score at 2-2, Andre Onana attempted to play from the back in a sequence which ended in a loss of possession from United near their own area, Casemiro conceding a penalty and then sending off. Mauro Icardi missed the penalty, but scored three minutes later to win the match.

“The idea was to set a high tempo in the pressing and force mistakes,” added Garcia. “Don’t expect mistakes, but force mistakes. This high pressing also made us concede situations and the first [United] the goal is because of that.

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

According to Garcia, part of the calculated risk was attacking Marcus Rashford.

Rashford scored United’s first goal for Rasmus Højlund, but he ultimately had such a difficult evening that he was substituted before the 70th minute. He is suspended for the second leg in Istanbul after being sent off in the 4-3 defeat to FC Copenhagen, another result which contributed to United fighting for their Champions League lives.

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

“Which is better: preventing transitions for Rashford or attacking him? I don’t know. It’s about doing what you believe in and forcing mistakes, putting the opponent in a situation difficult or tricky. You take risks and sometimes it goes against you, but that’s what we believe.

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

In 1993, after a 3-3 draw between the teams at Old Trafford, Galatasaray manager Reiner Hollmann warned Ferguson and his players “that they would be waiting for you at the airport” before the return match in Turkey, and he was right. . Fans packed the airport arrivals hall and spent the night outside the team hotel, making so much noise that the players couldn’t sleep. There have even been stories of hotel workers using broomsticks to bang on the walls of neighboring 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 in chains. United striker Eric Cantona, sent off after the final whistle, was punched by a police officer and captain Bryan Robson was left covered in blood from a huge cut on his arm suffered during the melee.

The atmosphere is not as intense in 2023, but Istanbul on a European night remains a difficult place to play and it is not for nothing that United have never beaten Galatasaray away in three attempts previous ones.

“It’s a big club with considerable importance in the city and in the country,” says Garcia. “I’ve been lucky enough to be in Serie A, in Spain and in Greece but I tell my friends, don’t come here to see Galatasaray: come for the atmosphere. It’s incredible. Incredible. There’s great players saying Galatasaray is the toughest atmosphere they have played in. That says a lot.

“We are not going to speculate on what might happen in the last game. [of the groups] so I think it will be a very open match, as 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 qualify, so it should be an exciting match.”

United, bottom of the group after three defeats in four matches, have no choice but to try to win. Do that, and they can see a path to the round of 16. However, anything less than victory and Galatasaray will have inflicted another hellish memory on him.