Fenerbahce vs Manchester United LIVE: Europa League team news and line-ups as Jose Mourinho faces former side

It’s not just Jose Mourinho who Manchester United will be up against tonight. The Fenerbahce team includes former United players in Fred and Sofyan Amrabat.

There are also plenty of former Premier League players, such as Allan Saint-Maximin, Dusan Tadic, Edin Dzeko, Caglar Soyuncu and Cenk Tosun. A real Motley Crew.

It was perhaps the first sign of things to come: failure for Manchester United, frustration for Jose Mourinho. And this was way before the Portuguese actually went to the club. That febrile period from 2016 to 2018 is obviously going to be brought up a lot as Mourinho’s Fenerbahce take on his old club in the Europa League on Thursday, but of more interest is perhaps what happened in May 2013. And, what might have happened.

Jose Mourinho maintains Sir Alex Ferguson has something more precious than his ambassadorial role after Ineos terminated his £2m contract as part of its cost-cutting drive.

Sir Alex has pocketed the annual sum each year since stepping down as manager in 2013, but the move by Ineos, owned by British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, has raised eyebrows.

Amicable talks were held to end the existing deal between the legendary former manager, who will retain a role as a non-executive director, and club officials, but Mourinho, who will face his former club in the Europa League on Thursday, maintains the Scot retains something more important.

With City facing a hearing into over 100 alleged breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules, over a nine-year period that included Jose Mourinho’s spell in charge of United, he could not resist a reference to the 2017-18 season.

Mourinho said when reflecting on his time in Manchester: “We won Europa League, finished second in the Premier League. I think we still have a chance to win that league, because maybe they punish Man City. Maybe we win that league, then they have to pay me the bonus and give me the medal!”

City deny all charges and announced their “surprise” when they were referred to the independent commission last February.

The Portuguese won the League Cup and Europa League in his first season with United and finished runner-up in the Premier League the year after, although 19 points behind Pep Guardiola’s 100-point champions.

Mourinho, who won three Premier League titles across two spells at Chelsea, would later claim that guiding United to second place in 2017-18 was “one of the best jobs of my career” because of “what was going on behind the scenes” after he was sacked midway through the following season.

Manchester United win 7/5

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Fenerbahce 2-2 Manchester United

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Fenerbahce XI: Livakovic; Djiku, Soyuncu, Becao, Muldur; Amrabat, Fred; Tadic, Szymanski, Saint-Maximin; En-Nesyri.

Manchester United XI: Onana; Mazraoui, De Ligt, Martinez, Dalot; Ugarte, Casemiro, Eriksen; Garnacho, Zirkzee, Rashford.

Bruno Fernandes is suspended after his sending off against Porto, while Kobbie Mainoo, Luke Shaw and Harry Maguire are among those sidelined by injury. Casemiro appeared to suffer a knock at the weekend and may be a doubt.

Fenerbahce vs Manchester United is due to kick off at 8pm BST on Thursday 24 October at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium in Istanbul.

Viewers in the United Kingdom can watch the match live on TNT Sports 2, with coverage from 7pm BST. Subscribers can stream via discovery+

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Manchester United encounter a familiar foe as Erik ten Hag and his side take on Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce.

The Portuguese manager, who guided the visitors to Europa League triumph in 2017, is in his first season in Istanbul and has made a solid start, with just one defeat from the first eight league games.

In this competition, meanwhile, the Turkish club have a haul of four points, two more than Manchester United, who have failed to impress in draws with Twente and Porto.

A win would ease the pressure somewhat on the under-fire Ten Hag as he looks to make improvements on the pitch.