Jamie Jackson’s verdict from Old Trafford is in, bringing this MBM to its natural conclusion. You know what to do: clickity click! Thanks for reading this live blog. Nighty night!
Ole speaks! “First half, you saw the intent straight away. The boys wanted to play, they enjoyed it, it’s a Champions League night at Old Trafford. You expect them to enjoy themselves. We created some great chances, some very nice goals, and I was very pleased. Donny can play in different positions, Edinson is a good old-fashioned number nine, and we haven’t had that for a while, and I was very happy with how Anthony played on the left. Marcus is a very good penalty taker, and Bruno is very confident, so if Bruno wants to give it to Marcus, so be it. They can share them around. When you are 3-0 up you take the foot off the pedal. I think they enjoyed the second half more than the first, but 4-1 in the Champions League, you are happy with. We need one more point but we want to top the group. PSG are coming here and we look forward to that one.”
He also reports that Lindelof has a back problem, Wan-Bissaka some trouble with his ankle, but both should be OK for the weekend.
The brilliant Bruno Fernandes speaks frankly to BT Sport. “I think we played really well, starting the game with the right mentality: stronger, intense. The first half was really important to get the points today. [The first goal] was a really good goal, you need to be ready when you are outside the box to shoot ... or sometimes to stop the game, stop the counter! This time was to shoot, maybe next time I need to take a yellow card, I don’t know! [Huge cheeky smile] After the last Premier League game, I told Rashie he could take the next penalty, so I remembered that. And also he is one of the top scorers in the Champions League, it’s important for him to keep going there and take that confidence. It doesn’t matter who takes. When the team scores, I score too. It is a good position [in the group] but we can’t relax. We need to win the next game on Sunday, but then we have time to think about the next game in the Champions League.”
PSG ended up beating Leipzig 1-0. Both of those teams are now on six points in Group H, three behind leaders United. Basaksehir prop up the table with three points. Next up for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side: PSG at home. Having already done a number on last season’s finalists away, and needing just one more point, they’ll be confident of doing enough to make it through to the knockouts, especially as they’re now on a seven-game winning streak at Old Trafford, running up an aggregate score of 24-2. Mind you, if they give Neymar and Mbappe the chances they gave Basaksehir tonight ... it promises to be a great match, put it that way.
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FULL TIME: Manchester United 4-1 Istanbul Basaksehir
There’s just enough time for Greenwood to shoot and Gunok to save, and that’s the end of a fine evening’s entertainment. United were magnificent in the first half, attacking with verve and panache. Not so good in the second, but then they made a tranche of changes, so that’s understandable. The three points keeps them top of the group, and they now only need a point from their final two matches against PSG and Leipzig to make the knockout stage!
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90 min +3: It’s been the dictionary definition of a curate’s egg, this one.
GOAL! Manchester United 4-1 Basaksehir (James 90+2)
United counter at speed. Van de Beek slips Greenwood into acres on the right. Greenwood reaches the edge of the box and rolls across for James, who ends a long scoring drought by opening his body and sidefooting confidently into the bottom right!
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90 min +2: Turuc loops in from the right. De Gea claims. And then ...
90 min +1: The first of four added minutes goes by without any great drama.
90 min: James drives down the left and enters the box, pulling back for Greenwood and nearly teeing up the striker, six yards from goal. Basaksehir swarm and clear.
89 min: Turuc is booked for some minor indiscretion or other.
88 min: Greenwood springs clear and nearly rounds Gunok, but the keeper clears well. He’s out of his area, though, and Cavani tries to dispatch the ball into the empty net from distance. He doesn’t quite get a hold of his ambitious effort, and the keeper can get back to gather.
87 min: Carlos Ponck comes on for Martin Skrtel. Then a little space for Visca just inside the United box on the left. His low shot is weak and straight at De Gea. He should have done much better.
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86 min: Maguire is booked for taking his own sweet time over the resulting free kick.
85 min: Tekdemir is booked for a crude block on Fred. United have dampened Basaksehir’s post-goal verve a little.
83 min: Space for Cavani out on the right. His cross nearly clears the Stretford End. Too much wonderfuel gas behind that one.
82 min: Suddenly United are looking very nervous. Tuanzebe and De Gea get in a muddle. Then Rafael bursts down the right and wallops low towards the near post. Ba tries to trap and shoot, but he should have left it for Gulbrandsen behind him. Ba whips into the side netting, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer sends on Nemanja Matic for Anthony Martial.
80 min: Visca drifts in from the right and unleashes a stunning shot towards the top left. De Gea is beaten all ends up. The ball crashes off the crossbar and away to safety.
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78 min: Skrtel catches Cavani from behind, clumsily more than aggressively. He deserves his booking though.
77 min: United try to bounce back immediately from a free kick of their own. Telles takes it, curling it from the left flank to the far post. He nearly finds Maguire ... but not quite. Goal kick.
GOAL! Manchester United 3-1 Basaksehir (Turuc 75)
Ba is bundled over by Fred, just to the left of centre, 25 yards from goal. Turuc whips it over the wall and into the top left. For a second it looks like De Gea has clawed it out, but the referee’s watch buzzes. It’s well over the line. That’s a wonderful free kick ... and a wake-up call for United.
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73 min: A double change for Basaksehir: Hasan Ali Kaldirim and Giuliano come on for Berkay Ozcan and Boli Bolingoli.
72 min: Basaksehir press United back, Ba and Visca drawing pretty triangles out on the left flank. Maguire is forced to blooter unceremoniously into the stand before screaming at his team-mates to get back up to speed. United have dropped their intensity since making that tranche of subs.
70 min: Greenwood is fed by James down the inside-right channel, and takes a whack when he reaches the area. His effort is blocked, but he’s been lively since coming on.
69 min: Visca continues to probe down the left. Williams hasn’t got up to speed yet, and is fortunate that the Basaksehir winger continues to make some strange decisions.
67 min: Visca wins the ball off a lumbering Williams and scampers off down the left wing. He’s got space and options in the middle, but opts for a weird delivery that’s neither cross nor shot. The ball flies off harmlessly into the stand behind the goal.
65 min: Tekdemir brazenly wrestles Martial to the ground as the United striker looks to break. A free kick, but for some reason not a yellow card.
63 min: A change for Basaksehir, as Nacer Chadli makes way for Fredrik Gulbrandsen, who scored twice at the weekend.
62 min: Greenwood’s first act is to dribble with great purpose down the right and consider shooting upon entering the box. He leaves it too late. He settles for a corner, and gets on the end of it at the near post. Deflection. Another corner, this time on the right. Maguire gets a free header from that one, and sends it miles over the bar.
60 min: United make a triple substitution. On come Mason Greenwood, Brandon Williams and Daniel James; Marcus Rashford, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Bruno Fernandes are the lads getting a rest. Wan-Bissaka is the only one of the three to head straight down the tunnel; coupled with the frown on his face, he may have picked up a problem.
58 min: Turuc drives at Martial down the right and cuts back for Rafael, who attempts a dream curler into the top left on his return to his old stomping ground. Full marks for ambition.
57 min: A simple pass down the middle nearly opens United up. Ba threatens to latch onto the ball and break clear ... but Maguire comes across and wins a tough tussle.
55 min: Tuanzebe is booked for flapping his arm across Ba’s face as the pair contest a high ball. That means he won’t be available for selection next week against PSG.
53 min: From the corner, Visca is this close to breaking away a la Ba in the first game. Rashford does extremely well to shepherd him to the wing, then hold him up, eventually forcing him to turn tail. Lightning doesn’t strike twice.
52 min: Telles continues to patrol the left wing with sassy confidence. He pings a cross to win a corner, which he takes himself. He nearly finds Cavani at the far post, but the ball sails all the way through the six-yard box. Fernandes does well to retrieve the situation, gathering the loose ball and winning a corner on the other side.
50 min: Visca has been Basaksehir’s best player by some distance, and here he drops a shoulder before cracking a fine low drive towards the bottom left. De Gea is unsighted, so does brilliantly to stick out a late, strong hand to turn the ball around for a corner. Great football all round ... until the corner’s taken. That’s a waste of time.
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49 min: Bolingoli carelessly gives the ball away to Fernandes out on the United right. Fernandes drifts infield, considers shooting, but slips Cavani in down the channel instead. Cavani should score, but over-elaborates, gets the ball stuck under his feet, and can only force a corner. Nothing comes of the set piece.
48 min: Ba spins Tuanzebe and threatens to burst into the United box. Maguire steps in to intercept and clear.
46 min: Easy to forget that Basaksehir were romping into the United box after 15 seconds or so. They try the front-foot gambit again, but Wan-Bissaka is having none of it and clears his lines.
United get the second half underway. They’ll be looking to whistle a few more goals past the uncertain Mert Gunok’s lugs. But they also need to conserve energy, with a big game at Southampton coming up on Sunday, so Axel Tuanzebe replaces Victor Lindelof, who has been struggling recently with a bad back. Meanwhile Basaksehir replace Irfan Can Kahveci with Mahmut Tekdemir.
Half-time entertainment. Chelsea ensured their place in the knockout stage next year. Here’s Tumaini Carayol’s verdict.
HALF TIME: Manchester United 3-0 Basaksehir
Elsewhere in the multiverse, United lead 7-0, while another parallel dimension has the score at 3-3. It’s been that sort of game. More please!
45 min: A free kick of Basaksehir out on the left. They make an absolute balls of it, and suddenly United are four on two! Rashford, skittering down the right, tries to chip across for Cavani, who is totally free on the left. Bolingoli gets a head in the way. Then a long clearance nearly releases Ba, only for Lindelof to make a last-man intervention. This is ludicrously wonderful.
43 min: Turuc slips a pass down the left for Bolingoli, who reaches the corner of the six-yard box and backheels for Ba. The striker shoots towards the top right, but it’s not a clean whack and Maguire is able to deflect it out for a corner. Fine defending, but he should never have been given the chance. Ba has now missed two sitters. Nothing comes of the corner.
41 min: This match is absurdly open, and being played out at 101 miles per hour. It is excellent entertainment.
39 min: Visca whips in from the right. Maguire loses Ba, who should score from six yards ... but sends a dismal header miles over the bar. United stream up the other end, five on three, Martial setting up Fernandes who tries to poke under Gunok from the edge of the box. The keeper does well to block.
38 min: Fred clatters into Visca out on the right. Free kick, and a chance for the visitors to load the box.
37 min: There’s no way this is going to end 3-0.
GOAL! Manchester United 3-0 Basaksehir (Rashford 36 pen)
Rashford takes a worrying stuttering run-up ... Fernandes has missed a couple this season with these antics ... but there’s no need to fret! Rashford gives the keeper eyes, sending him one way and rolling his penalty into the bottom right! What ice-cool brilliance.
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35 min: Yep, it’s a penalty. But here’s what being a team-mate is all about: Fernandes, on a first-half hat-trick, gives the ball to Rashford. There’s generosity!
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34 min: There’s no question that Bolingoli has conceded a penalty ... but was Rashford offside as he sprung away from Bolingoli on the halfway line? VAR is checking.
Penalty for United!
33 min: Lindelof rakes a glorious long pass down the right. Rashford gets ahead of Bolingoli, and races towards the box. Once in the area, Bolingoli barges Rashford in the back. Rashford goes over, and the referee points to the spot.
31 min: Ba dribbles a shot on the turn towards the bottom right. De Gea gathers with a yawn. But Basaksehir are attacking with confidence, despite it all.
29 min: Fred belts an appalling blind pass that crashes into Ba’s midriff. With United light at the back, and Visca ready to help his team-mate launch an attack, Fred is very lucky that the referee blows for handball. It did hit Ba’s arm, but there was bugger all he could do about it.
28 min: Visca has been Basaksehir’s biggest threat so far. He takes charge of the set piece, and whistles a respectable effort over the wall and inches wide and high of the top-left corner. But De Gea has it covered all the way and watches calmly as it sails over.
27 min: Ba bustles down the middle and is tripped by Wan-Bissaka, who gets the ball but a big chunk of the man too. A free kick in a dangerous position, though it’s right on the limit for a direct shot.
25 min: A free kick for Basaksehir out on the right. They play it short, then Kahveci sends a long diagonal pass towards Skrtel, making a nuisance of himself in the box. The cross is no good and sails apologetically out for a goal kick.
24 min: Another half-chance for Basaksehir, as Visca rolls a pass across the face of the United box from the right. Kahveci shoots, but he’s falling backwards, and Maguire is able to close him down and block.
23 min: Telles has been superb so far. He breezes down the left at warp speed, before finding Rashford on the opposite wing with a raking pass. Nothing comes of the move, but the new left-back is causing all sorts of bother out on his wing.
21 min: Gunok had the good grace to look embarrassed. That’s about the best you can say. What an abysmal error, just as his team were beginning to ask a couple of questions up the other end.
GOAL! Manchester United 2-0 Basaksehir (Fernandes 19)
Bruno Fernandes’s first goal was sensational; this one is a fiasco. Telles crosses from the left. Cavani goes up but is never going to get it. Gunok should catch, but lets the ball spring off his fingertips, the ball dropping to Fernandes, six yards out, in front of an open goal. In it rolls.
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17 min: Ozcan dribbles across the face of the United box, left to right, in the George Best versus Sheffield United style, before teeing up Visca. The resulting shot from 20 yards finds the top-right corner ... of the Stretford End. He should have done much better. United have been effervescent in attack, but Basaksehir have worried the defence on a couple of occasions now.
16 min: Neymar has put PSG one up at home against Leipzig. Everything matters in this tight group.
14 min: I can exclusively reveal that this isn’t going to end 1-0 either. Within the space of 60 seconds, Fernandes fizzes a speculative shot wide left of goal, then Ba takes a fresh-air swipe at a decent chance from 12 yards, Basaksehir having put their first decent attacking move together down the right. Breathless stuff!
12 min: Van de Beek finds Fernandes in the middle. He immediately shuttles the ball down the inside-right channel for Rashford, who shouldn’t get to the ball before the out-rushing Gunok, but somehow toe-pokes through the hesitant keeper’s legs and in from a tight angle! But the flag goes up for offside.
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11 min: Martial and Rashford combine at pace down the left. Martial drives into the box and whips infield. His cross is too high for Cavani. Only just, though.
9 min: It’s not often you can say a goal had been coming after seven minutes. But here we are. United started magnificently, and this is their reward.
GOAL! Manchester United 1-0 Basaksehir (Fernandes 7)
Wow! Maguire slips a pass down the left for Telles, who wins a corner off Rafael. Telles takes himself. Epureanu heads clear. The ball drops to Fernandes, just to the right of the D. Fernandes meets it on the half-volley, sending a rising net-ripper into the top right! Gunok had no chance at all. That was a blistering strike!
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5 min: Telles has a burst down the left, but can’t quite find anyone infield. United come again through Martial, who dribbles down the same wing and along the byline. He tries to find Rashford with a cutback, but the national treasure is closed down. Great start by United. This isn’t going to end 0-0.
2 min: Now United stream forward. A cute Fernandes flick out on the right, infield between two defenders, sends Rashford dribbling with elegance down the middle. A sashay on the edge of the box, and suddenly he’s got space to shoot. His effort is blocked by Gunok, who spills, instigating a flurry of fevered activity. The rebound doesn’t quite drop for Rashford, who cocks his head back in annoyance. That move deserved a goal.
1 min: Basaksehir start very much on the front foot, Turuc bustling into the area from the left. He’s never in control and De Gea is able to clear. The visitors are shooting towards the Stretford End in this first half.
And we’re off! Basaksehir get the ball rolling ... but not before all players take a knee. Black lives matter. There’s no room for racism.
The teams are out! Manchester United are in their famous red shirts; Basaksehir sport second-choice blue. United wear black armbands in honour of their former midfielder Maurice Setters, part of their 1963 FA Cup final winning team, who passed away earlier this week. We’ll be off in a minute.
BT Sport have a word with Ole. “The group is very open. We opened the group up with the performance we had last time, so tonight is about getting that performance right. Hopefully that’s enough to get the result. Donny has been a very good addition to the squad, a fantastic lad. He started well in Turkey but we had to change towards the end to try to get a goal. The balance of the team meant we took him off. But tonight I’m sure we are going to see him enjoy himself again. Cavani has scored a good goal against Everton, has been away with Uruguay and scored, getting his fitness, and for us he’s a different striker. He gets in where it hurts, gets his head on the ball, so hopefully we can provide some crosses and feed him with chances. You know when you give a team a two-goal lead, they have something to hang onto, it’s always hard and they hung onto it. We had a goalline clearance towards the end but we just didn’t create enough. We want the first goal tonight, that’s important in games like this.”
Pre-match pessimism / brazen fate-tempting. “This should be straightforward but United will most likely labour and make a meal out of it as per lately,” sighs Neil Carter. “Henderson should have started and Lindelof should have been rested as he’s been struggling with his back. Tuanzabe should have gotten some minutes. But what do I know eh. Shame there are no fans in the stadium to welcome back Rafael.”
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer names an attacking team. Donny van de Beek gets a rare run out, while Edinson Cavani makes his first start for United. Nemanja Matic and Juan Mata drop to the bench, the two sacrifices in the wake of the uninspiring win over West Bromwich Albion at the weekend. David de Gea is selected ahead of Dean Henderson, who played in Istanbul.
Basaksehir name ten of the 11 players who started the reverse fixture three weeks ago. Nacer Chadli, formerly of West Bromwich Albion, takes the place of Danijel Aleksic on the left wing. Demba Ba, who scored that goal, spearheads the Turkish champions again. Chadli and Ba aren’t the only erstwhile Premier League stars in the Basaksehir XI: Martin Skrtel, once of Liverpool, marshals their defence alongside former United favourite Rafael.
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The teams
Manchester United: de Gea, Wan Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Telles, van de Beek, Fred, Martial, Fernandes, Rashford, Cavani.
Subs: Mata, Greenwood, Grant, James, Fosu-Mensah, Ighalo, Henderson, Pellistri, Matic, Williams, Tuanzebe, Mengi.
Istanbul Basaksehir: Gunok, Da Silva, Skrtel, Epureanu, Bolingoli Mbombo, Ozcan, Visca, Chadli, Kahveci, Turuc, Ba.
Subs: Babacan, Kaldirim, Kivanc, Giuliano, Tekdemir, Gulbrandsen, Ponck, Kaplan, Karakus.
Referee: Ovidiu Alin Hategan (Romania).
Preamble
On the face of it, this shouldn’t be a particularly difficult assignment for Manchester United. İstanbul Başakşehir have lost their last three European away games, conceding eight goals in the process. They’ve lost ten of their 16 away matches in Europe, letting in 33 goals and keeping just one clean sheet. And their five-match unbeaten run in the Turkish Super Lig came to an end at the weekend, two late Fredrik Gulbrandsen goals putting a flattering sheen on a 3-2 defeat at city rivals Beşiktaş.
However United’s form at Old Trafford is nothing short of downright weird. The narrow win over West Bromwich Albion at the weekend was their first victory at home in the Premier League this season. They’ve lost four of their last seven home Champions League fixtures, and three of their last four games against Turkish opponents. On the flip side, they won all five of their home games in last season’s Europa League, scoring 15 times and conceding just the one. They’re currently on a six-game winning streak in Europe at Old Trafford; the aggregate score is 20-1. They recently routed last season’s semi-finalists Leipzig 5-0. Good luck sifting through all this evidence.
So which United will turn up tonight? The Schoolboy XI (copyright Paul Scholes) that allowed Demba Ba the freedom of Istanbul three weeks ago as Başakşehir won 2-1? Or the free-flowing collective that eviscerated one of the best teams in Europe? United can’t qualify for the knockout stage tonight, but they can take a huge step towards it, ahead of crunch matches against Leipzig and PSG. Anything other than a win, though, would cause Group H to concertina in worrying fashion. It’s a big night at Old Trafford. It’s on!
Kick off: 8pm GMT.
