Fenerbahçe v Man. United background

Beaten 4-1 by Manchester United on matchday three, Fenerbahçe can exact rapid revenge in UEFA Europa League Group A, having defeated the Red Devils 3-0 on their most recent visit.

Previous meetings
• This will be the clubs' sixth meeting; United are 3-2 up in terms of wins (and 12-7 ahead on goals) following that 4-1 success. The clubs were previously paired in two UEFA Champions League group stages.

• In 1996/97, 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 Reds Devils' first ever UEFA home defeat.

• The line-ups for their first meeting in Istanbul, on 16 October 1996, were:
Fenerbahçe: Rüştü Reçber, İlker Yağcıoğlu, Okechukwu, Høgh, Kemalettin Şentürk, Halil İbrahim Kara, Tuncay Akgün (Aygün Taskıran 83), Bolić, Okocha, Kostadinov (Tarik Daşgün 83), Bülent Uygun (Erol Bulut 65).
United: Schmeichel, G Neville, Irwin, May, Johnsen, Pallister, Cantona, Butt, Beckham, Cruyff (Poborský 73), Solskjær.

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

• The teams for that latter fixture, on 8 December 2004, were:
Fenerbahçe: Rüştü Reçber, Fábio Luciano, Servet Çetin, Ümit Özat, Tuncay Şanlı (Fabiano 90+4), Mert Nobre (Serhat Akın 90), Mehmet Aurélio, Önder Turacı, Alex, Selçuk Şahin, Serkan Balcı (Mehmet Yozgatlı 72).
United: Howard, P Neville, Brown (Gerard Piqué 63), Cristiano Ronaldo, Bellion, Miller (Eagles 77), Djemba-Djemba, O'Shea, Richardson (Spector 69), Fletcher, Fortune.

• Fenerbahçe's 18 matches against English clubs have ended W4 D3 L11 (W3 D1 L4 in Istanbul). They have lost their last two home games against English clubs by three-goal margins.

• United's record in 15 encounters with Turkish opposition reads W8 D3 L4 (W3 D2 L2 in Turkey).

Form guide
• Fenerbahçe are unbeaten in seven European home games (W6 D1), winning the last five. They have kept clean sheets in five of those seven matches.

• United have gone six games without a European away win (D1 L5) and failed to score in the most recent two of those matches.

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

• 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.

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

• This will be Fenerbahçe's 100th UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League game; the previous 99 ended W42 D23 L34.

• 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.

• 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
• 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.

• 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.

• The coaches met for the first time on matchday three, which was Mourinho's first encounter with Fenerbahçe. 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.