Manchester United make a welcome return to the UEFA Champions League when facing Sabah on Thursday night.
The visitors from Azerbaijan provide the opposition for Michael Carrick’s men, as we look to get off to a good start in the competition, with tickets now available on general sale for all supporters.
On the back of conceding an equaliser to Everton with virtually the last kick of the game at the weekend, the Reds are looking to respond positively, with the Manchester derby against City also on the horizon.
This is the first time we have faced a team from Azerbaijan and the tie will be our 300th in the European Cup or Champions League, tracing all the way back to 1956.
Sabah are coached by Valdas Dambrauskas, who has an interesting story. The Lithuanian appeared on the equivalent of ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?’ in his homeland and used his winnings to finance a move to England.
Valdas worked for United as an Academy coach, across our UK and international programmes, around 20 years ago.
The club’s CEO, Ramin Hasanov, also assisted with our full-time MUSS (Manchester United Soccer Schools) programme in Baku between 2014 and 2018, as part of the club’s partnership with Bakcell.
Sabah are in fourth place in the domestic Azerbaijan Premier League table, during the early stages of the campaign, and have a game in hand on leaders Johor. They have enjoyed a remarkable rise over such a short period of time and won their historic first title by finishing nine points clear of Qarabag.
United have a 25-man A-List for the Champions League but can introduce players from the B-List, which includes the likes of and Leny Yoro.
However, Manuel Ugarte is definitely out due to injury, while Amad, Carlos Baleba and Matthijs de Ligt have also been sidelined. Mason Mount was an unused substitute at Hill Dickinson Stadium and Benjamin Šeško pushed his claims for a starting spot with his goal.
Marcus Rashford was withdrawn in the second half, after “feeling a bit of something” according to Carrick.
Sabah thumped Zira 5-0 at the weekend, with Rwanda international Joy-Lance Mickels scoring a hat-trick.
Serbian striker Veljko Simic looks set to lead the line while Du Queiroz and Tymoteusz Puchacz, among the summer recruits, are in the squad submitted to UEFA.