Match Report: Manchester United 4–1 Istanbul Başakşehir
By Cameron Winstanley
Manchester United took a huge step towards qualifying from Group H as they crawled over the line against Basaksehir after being in control throughout.
It’ll come to no one’s surprise that Bruno Fernandes’ goals steered United to victory. It was the Portuguese international who smashed United into the lead after only seven minutes when Alex Telles’ corner was cleared as far as Fernandes, whose sweetly struck half-volley flew into the top corner from the edge of the box.
Fernandes doubled United’s advantage on the 20 minutes when Fehmi Gunok dropped Telles’ cross right at his feet leaving a simple tap in. Marcus Rashford made it 3-0 from the penalty spot after being fouled himself following a 60-yard pass from Victor Lindelöf.
Istanbul got themselves back in the game with only fifteen minutes left to play after United took their foot off the gas. David De Gea was unable to keep out Deniz Turuc’s freekick. Edin Visca saw his strike cannon off the bar only five minutes later with United visibly stunned by Basaksehir’s resurgence. United did add their fourth in stoppage time when Dan James rolled the ball past Gunok after Mason Greenwood squared to the unmarked Welshman on the counter to make the points safe.
United should’ve wrapped it up early and thought they’d initially doubled their lead at 1-0 only minutes after hitting the front. Marcus Rashford rolled through Gunok’s legs after brilliant link up play with the United midfield, only to have strayed offside.
Istanbul did have chances to get themselves on the scoresheet earlier with Edin Visca putting wide a good first half opportunity before forcing David De Gea into a good save from outside the box. Demba Ba passed up a couple of chances he couldn’t get a clean enough contact on. United need only a point from their last two games to qualify.
Sub-Edited by Ciaran Coyle
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