HELL & BACK
Galatasaray return to scene that sowed seed for Istanbul chaos
v IT is 30 years since Manchester United were welcomed to hell.
The tale of how the club’s first venture into the Champions League ended in a shock elimination to Galatasaray on away goals is one of pure intimidation.
Sir Alex Ferguson described the second leg in Istanbul as being “exposed to as much hostility and harassment as I have ever known on a football expedition”.
From the moment United’s squad were greeted at the airport by thousands of manic Galatasaray fans – some of them waving banners that read ‘Welcome to Hell’ – Ferguson and his players were threatened and abused. Even the Turkish police played their part. Playmaker Eric Cantona was attacked by one officer after being sent off for allowing his frustration to explode at the end of the goalless draw that sent United crashing out.
When Bryan Robson came to his rescue, he suffered a cut arm that required six stitches after being thrown down the steep concrete steps in the tunnel that led to the dressing rooms.
“I never want to go back there again,” said boss Ferguson (right).
But United’s return to the Champions League under Erik ten Hag has pitted them once again against the most famous team in Turkey.
Although Galatasaray’s intimidating Ali Sami Yen Stadium was closed in 2010, a visit to the banks of the Bosphorus remains one of the toughest assignments in
European football. Yet in October 1993, it was at Old Trafford that the seeds of United’s downfall were sewn.
When Galatasaray return to Manchester on Tuesday night, Ten Hag certainly will not want to make the same mistakes as his predecessors.
The Reds drew the Turkish champions in the second round after they ended the club’s 26-year wait for the title.
Chief scout Les Kershaw reported that Galatasaray were “nothing to worry about” – and after 13 minutes Robson’s strike and an own-goal by Hakan Sukur put United 2-0 ahead.
But Arif Erdem reduced the deficit in the 16th minute. Kubilay Turkyilmaz brought them level after 32 minutes and then scored again just after the hour.
Peter Schmeichel then inadvertently sparked a diplomatic incident by pouncing on a pitch invader who was waving a burning flag.
The United keeper thought the fan was holding a United banner.
But it was a Kurdish protester with a Turkish flag – and when Schmeichel stamped out the flames with his boot he enraged an entire nation.
A furious United onslaught brought an 80th-minute equaliser for Cantona.
But when Galatasaray’s German coach Reiner Hollmann later promised “Gala fans will be waiting for you in Istanbul”, it was a warning that carried chilling menace.
Youngsters such as fullback Gary Neville and midfielder David Beckham were in Ferguson’s squad.
The pair were filmed grinning as they looked out from the team coach at a sea of Galatasaray supporters menacingly drawing their fingers across their throats.
A brick thrown from the stands just missed Steve Bruce’s face.
While, outside the stadium, 164 United fans were arrested and held for hours in dirty cells without any food or water.
Neville later admitted: “I learned more in those two hours than I had done in the previous two years playing for the youth team and reserves.”