Needing to avoid defeat to stand any chance of a place in the Champions League knockout rounds, Manchester United make the long journey to Rams Park in Istanbul to face Galatasaray in today’s Group A fixture.
The Red Devils sit at the foot of the section with a paltry three points under their belt, although their hosts are only one point and one place better off heading into the penultimate game week.
Keeping Bayern Munich at arm’s length for 80 minutes at the Allianz Arena is no mean feat, and Galatasaray were on the verge of walking away from their match day four contest with the Bundesliga champions with a hard-fought point to show for their efforts.
However, the deadlock was belatedly broken when Harry Kane nodded in Joshua Kimmich’s free kick, and the England captain gave Bayern some much-needed breathing space with his second of the night in the 86th minute before Cedric Bakambu’s strike set up a tense finish.
Bakambu’s injury-time goal would end up being nothing more than a consolation, though, as Galatasarayagonisingly missed the chance to cement a top-two ranking in Group A, where three teams will engage in a fierce fight for second place, while group winners, Bayern, watch on with popcorn in hand.
Red Devils fans have to go back to September’s 3-0 EFL Cup beating of Crystal Palace for the last time that they won a game by at least two goals, and not since May’s 4-1 beating of Chelsea had Man United prevailed by such a margin in the Premier League, offering hope that Erik ten Hag’s side have just experienced a turning point in their season.
The visitors will live to fight another day in Group A so long as they draw or win against Galatasaray, but a fourth defeat from five Champions League games will send the Red Devils packing, and they will be condemned to finish bottom if they lose and Copenhagen put Bayern to the sword.
As if Man United did not already have enough incentives to make their long journey to Rams Park worthwhile, the Red Devils are out to avenge their crushing 3-2 loss to Galatasaray at Old Trafford last month, and they have failed to score in three away games versus the Turkish side, their longest such run against a single opponent in Europe.
Galatasaray’s four-goal crushing of Alanyaspor was not entirely perfect for Buruk, who lost former Tottenham Hotspur defender,Davinson Sanchez, to a grade two hamstring injury in the second half, ruling the Colombian out of the visit to Man United.
Buruk’s defensive dilemma had already been complicated before the weekend, as AbdulkerimBardakci suffered an injury in training on last Friday and could not take part against Alanyaspor, but he is reportedly winning his battle to be fit for the game.
While Galatasaray may only be without one player for today, Man
United are one of several sides grappling with an injury crisis, as all of Lisandro Martinez (foot), Casemiro (thigh), Amad Diallo (knee), Mason Mount (calf), Jonny Evans (thigh), Christian Eriksen (knee) and Tyrell Malacia (knee) will sit out the trip to Istanbul.
Antony has also emerged as a fresh concern after a knock kept him out of the win over Everton, where RasmusHojlund was not present either owing to his thigh injury, although he was close to
making the cut and should be back in the fold for Wednesday’s game. —Sportsmole
