Man. United v Fenerbahçe background

Manchester United's Wayne Rooney scored his first senior hat-trick against Fenerbahçe, but the Yellow Canaries retain fond Old Trafford memories as the sides reconvene in UEFA Europa League Group A.

Previous meetings
• The clubs are meeting for the fifth time, having been paired in two previous UEFA Champions League group stages. Both teams have won twice, once at home and once away, with United 8-6 ahead in terms of goals.

• In the 1996/97 group stage, Sebastião Lazaroni's Fenerbahçe lost 2-0 at home to Sir Alex Ferguson's United but won the return fixture 1-0 thanks to Elvir Bolić's goal – the Red Devils' first ever UEFA home defeat.

• The line-ups for that game at Old Trafford on 30 October 1996 were:
United: Schmeichel, G Neville (P Neville 78), Irwin, May, Johnsen, Cantona, Butt, Beckham, Scholes (Poborský 67), Cruyff (Solskjær 67), Keane.
Fenerbahçe: Rüştü Reçber, İlker Yağcıoğlu, Okechukwu, Høgh (Bülent Uygun 78), Kemalettin Şentürk, Tuncay Akgün (Mustafa Doğan 72), Bolić (Tarik Daşgün 81), Okocha, Kostadinov, Saffet Akbaş, Erol Bulut.

• In the 2004/05 group stage, a hat-trick by United debutant Rooney helped Sir Alex's men win 6-2 at home to Christoph Daum's Fenerbahçe. In response, Tunçay Sanlı hit a treble as the Turkish side won their home leg 3-0.

• The teams for their most recent Old Trafford meeting, on 28 September 2004, were:
United: Carroll, G Neville, Heinze (P Neville 82), Ferdinand, Rooney, Van Nistelrooy (Miller 82), Giggs (Fletcher 62), Bellion, Kléberson, Djemba-Djemba, Silvestre.
Fenerbahçe: Rüştü Reçber, Fábio Luciano, Fatih Akyel (Serhat Akın 61), Ümit Özat, Tuncay Şanlı, Mert Nobre, Mehmet Aurélio, Van Hooijdonk, Alex, Deniz Barış, Serkan Balcı.

• United's record in 14 encounters with Turkish opposition reads W7 D3 4 (W4 D1 L2 at Old Trafford).

• Fenerbahçe's 17 matches against English clubs have ended W4 D3 L10 (W1 D2 L6 in England). The only goals they have scored in England came in those two games with United.

Form guide
• United are unbeaten in 12 European home fixtures (W9 D3) since a 2-1 UEFA Champions League round of 16 loss to Real Madrid in March 2013.

• This is United's first UEFA Cup or UEFA Europa League group stage campaign. The UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League is the one major European trophy the Red Devils have never won.

• Fenerbahçe's record in three European away matches this season is W1 D1 L1.

• Semi-finalists in 2012/13, Fenerbahçe have successfully negotiated all four of their preceding UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns.

Links and trivia
• The journey from Istanbul to Manchester is around 2,700km.

• Fenerbahçe's Robin van Persie was a United player from 2012–15, scoring 58 goals in 105 competitive outings.

• This is Zlatan Ibrahimović's first term in this competition since 2001/02, when he was on Ajax's books. His strike against Zorya on matchday two made him just the third player to score for seven clubs in UEFA competition, after John Carew and Adrian Mutu.

• Rooney needs one more goal to join Ruud van Nistelrooy as United's all-time top marksman in UEFA competition with 37 goals.

• An older brother of United's Paul Pogba, Florentin Pogba is also featuring in the 2016/17 group stage with St-Étienne.

• The game is taking place the day after Fenerbahçe midfielder Miroslav Stoch's 27th birthday.

• United goalkeeper David de Gea can make his 50th UEFA club competition appearance in this match.

• Former team-mates:
Daley Blind (United) & Grégory van der Wiel (Fenerbahçe) – Ajax, 2008–12
Memphis Depay (United) & Jeremain Lens (Fenerbahçe) – PSV Eindhoven 2011–13
Zlatan Ibrahimović (United) & Grégory van der Wiel (Fenerbahçe) – Paris Saint-Germain, 2012–16
Juan Mata (United) & Mehmet Topal (Fenerbahçe) – Valencia, 2010–11
Marcos Rojo (United) & Emmanuel Emenike (Fenerbahçe) – Spartak Moskva, 2011–12
Sergio Romero (United) & Jeremain Lens (Fenerbahçe) – AZ Alkmaar, 2007–10

The coaches
• José Mourinho took over as United boss this summer. Having made his name winning the UEFA Cup and UEFA Champions League with Porto, he lifted Europe's top club prize again with Internazionale Milano and three Premier League titles over two stints at Chelsea.

• Mourinho's last campaign in this competition was 2002/03, his Porto side edging out Celtic 3-2 in the UEFA Cup final in Seville.

• Dick Advocaat is in his first term with Fenerbahçe. The one-time Oranje coach has amassed domestic league titles in the Netherlands (with PSV), Scotland (Rangers) and Russia (Zenit), having also led Zenit to glory in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup.

• The coaches have never met before, and Mourinho did not face Fenerbahçe with any of his previous clubs.

• Advocaat's sole past encounter with United produced a 2-1 victory for his Zenit team in the 2008 UEFA Super Cup. He did not face United during his brief spell as Sunderland boss in 2015.