Everything Man Utd Fans Need to Know About Istanbul Basaksehir

The Champions League has so far offered Manchester United great respite from a very trying start to the Premier League season.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team responded to a poor opening few games of the domestic campaign by beating Paris Saint-Germain at Parc des Princes. An underwhelming home performance against Chelsea was then followed by a 5-0 thrashing of RB Leipzig.

Now, after a lacklustre home defeat to Arsenal, a first in 14 years, the question is how United will react in Europe again when tasked with travelling to Turkey to face Istanbul Basaksehir.

The game will take place at the Fatih Terim Stadium, named after the legendary Turkish manager who has spent almost all but one of the last 27 years alternating between spells in charge of Galatasaray and the Turkish national team.

Here’s a closer look at what Basaksehir have to offer…

Rise to Prominence

Unlike city neighbours Galatasaray, Fenerbahce and Besiktas, each with over 100 years of history and collectively accounting for all but eight Super Lig titles since 1959, Basaksehir came into being as recently as 1990 by the then mayor of Istanbul.

The move to the Basaksehir district came about in 2014. The modern satellite town was developed during Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s tenure as Istanbul mayor and the club retains close ties to the former prime minister and current president.

He once played in an exhibition game and the number 12 shirt is retired in his honour.

Basaksehir played top-flight football for the first time in 2006 and were later relegated back to Turkey’s second tier in 2013. They returned to the top flight a year later and have never finished outside the top four in the six full seasons since.

As is often the case with nouveau riche clubs, their rise has an unpopular development, while their relative close proximity to such large, established and historic sides has made fans difficult to come by, in spite of their sharp rise since 2014.

Record in Europe

Crowned Turkish champions for the first time in their history last season, this is Basaksehir’s maiden attempt at navigating the Champions League group stage.

It has been building to this for several years. The nouveau riche club first played in the Europa League in 2015/16, going no further than the third qualifying round. A year later, they progressed to the Europa League playoff round but were knocked out by Shakhtar Donetsk.

Basaksehir’s first chance in the Champions League came in 2017/18 and they initially beat Club Brugge in the third qualifying round. But Sevilla were too much for them in the playoff round.

In 2018/19, back in the Europa League, Basaksehir were paired with Burnley in the third qualifying round. Those two legs remain their only meeting to date with English opposition and it was the Premier League side who emerged victorious – a narrow 1-0 aggregate win.

Last season, Basaksehir started in the Champions League qualifying rounds, but defeat to Olympiacos resulted in dropping into the Europa League group stage. They topped a group containing Borussia Monchengladbach, Roma and Wolfsberger, before then beating Sporting CP in the last 32. They could even have faced United then, but lost to Copenhagen in the last 16.

Changes Since Last Season

In recent years, Basaksehir have made a habit of collecting plenty of veterans of former repute. That remains the case to an extent given that Martin Skrtel and Demba Ba are among their biggest names, but the likes of Robinho, Gael Clichy, Gokhan Inler and Eljero Elia have now been let go.

The club’s most expensive (cheap by English standards) summer acquisitions have all been younger talents under the age of 23, perhaps more notably midfielder Berkay Ozcan - formerly of Stuttgart.

Ex-Spurs and West Brom winger Nacer Chadli has arrived from Monaco, while United fans will enjoy seeing former Old Trafford favourite Rafael da Silva following his free transfer from Lyon.

Matchday 1 & 2 Results

Basaksehir could have hardly been presented with a tougher group for their first time at this stage and it has shown so far with back-to-back defeats in their opening two games.

First up was a 2-0 loss against Leipzig in Germany on matchday one, when wing-back Angelino - on loan from Manchester City - scored both goals inside the first 20 minutes.

Last week, when United were busy thrashing Leipzig, Basaksehir were beaten 2-0 by PSG in Istanbul. It was another double that did the damage, this time from on-loan Moise Kean in the second half.

Biggest Goal Threats

Domestically, Basaksehir have recently resurrected their form after a dreadful start to the defence of their title. They have won each of their last three Super Lig games, having earlier failed to win or even score in any of their opening four domestic fixtures.

In nine games played in all competitions in 2020/21, they have won only those three in total.

Basaksehir’s biggest worry this season has been scoring goals. They haven’t yet netted in Europe, while five in one game against Antalyaspor account for more than half of their Super Lig tally so far. In their six other domestic games, they have managed to hit the net only four times.

The goals when they have come, have mostly not been scored by a recognised striker and instead from midfield. Enzo Crivelli’s goal against Antalyaspor is the only one from a ‘centre-forward’, with Bosnian winger Edin Visca the top scorer and assist leader in the team.

Midfielders Irfan Kahveci (2), Danijel Aleksic (1) and Giuliano (1) are the only other scorers.

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