Source: TheGuardian
Archive, 1993: Manchester United exit Europe at Galatasaray – match report
4 November 1993: ‘Welcome to Hell’ declared the home banners as United stuttered to a goalless draw at a hostile Ali Sami Yen stadium in IstanbulNo Champions League for Manchester United, and in the Ali Sami Yen stadium here yesterday they made a poor case for belonging to anybody’s league of champions before going out of the European Cup to Galatasaray on the goals they had conceded in the 3–3 draw at Old Trafford.United came to the Bosphorus looking to Eric Cantona to inspire the victory they needed to succeed where Arsenal and Leeds United had previously failed, and win English football a place in the Champions League for the first time. Instead they suffered Cantona at his disparate dilettante worst and found themselves up Frenchman’s Creek.Again Cantona was the anti-hero he had been during Leeds’s faltering attempt to reach last season’s European Cup play-offs. True, he made more of an impact this time, though hardly in the manner United had anticipated.At the final whistle Cantona ran up to the referee, Kurt Rothlisberger, shook him by the hand and then pointed a finger to eye, suggesting that Swiss opticians could do with some extra custom.Rothlisberger, not amused, promptly showed him the red card. Choosing to insult a referee who taught French was not the brightest thing to do.Earlier, as the game had entered its final goalless quarter-hour, Cantona had been involved in an incident with the Galatasaray bench as he went to retrieve the ball. In his anxiety to get the game going again he planted an elbow in the solar plexus of Nezihi, the Turkish champions’ reserve goalkeeper. After a brief and angry hiatus the match resumed, but perhaps it was just as well after that that United did not steal a winning goal.Certainly they did not deserve to win a game to which they had contributed more hard work than imagination. Although the defence coped reasonably well in the absence of the injured Pallister, apart from a fraught spell late in the first half, the attack struggled in the wake of Alex Ferguson’s decision to play Keane, even though Robson was fit, and omit Hughes as the unwanted “foreigner”. Continue reading......read full article
