the match did not matter, in light of the murderous events in ıstanbul twenty-four hours before the kick-off, and it went against a united side which had all but lost the plot. the care-free, cavalier, uplifting football which had lit up the winter months had disappeared and the season was now falling apart as united sank to its fourth successive defeat. galatasaray came into the competition via the ecl but in reality were not that good and tired rapidly after a quick-fire all action start and in the final quarter should have been there for the taking. three times within twenty minutes clear-cut chances were missed and coupled with the two soft goals conceded was the story of united’s defeat. michael bridges, harry kewell and stephen mcphail all contrived to miss good openings and galatasaray on this form, by united, looked to have booked their place in the copenhagen final.
united were at full strength, with the exception of long term injured david batty as lee bowyer returned after suspension and united reverted back to 4-4-2 after the 3-5-2 formation in prague with alf-ınge haaland making way for bowyer. after surviving the intimidating appearance and walk onto the pitch to the accompaniment of armed shield- carrying guards and the baying of the locals, there was a frenzied start from the home team with inspirational arif erdem soon forcing nigel martyn to make a flying save and gary kelly using his speed to deny hakan sukar a shot. united’s first attack featured a build up by stephen mcphail and michael bridges to release harry kewell but matthew jones side footed the the cross high and wide. after only twelve minutes the home side took the lead, when arif erdem crossed for the unchallenged hakan sukar to head powerfully home for his ninth goal in european competition that season. three minutes later erdem, who was causing mayhem in the united ranks was close with a glancing header and just after it took a fine tackle from jonathan woodgate to halt his progress.
michael bridges tested claudio taffarel, but galatasaray immediately swept back up the other end for carlos de oliviera to force a save from nigel martyn as he headed in a gheorghe hagi cross from the left. on the half hour leeds were coming more into the picture with harry kewell accelerating into space and ghosting past three would-be tacklers before firing over, but just prior to the interval they fell further behind. after eirik bakke had handled, penbe ergun’s free-kick was bundled in by carlos de oliviera.
united had to go all out in the second half to get at least one away goal to lessen their plight for the home leg, but it was emre belozoglu and penbe ergun who went close soon after the restart. soon harry kewell was in the action and whipped over an inviting cross but jonathan woodgate scooped the ball over, but united were starting to come more and more into the game. ın the fifty-ninth minute it seemed that michael bridges must score when nigel martyn’s long clearance found him in the clear, but he firstly shot straight at claudio taffarel and then, with an open goal he contrived to put the rebound wide of the empty net. two minutes later harry kewell again danced round a succession of challenges before shooting over and then but he should have done better with a header from a great stephen mcphail free-kick.
with twelve minutes left harry kewell linked well with jason wilcox, who had replaced matthew jones, to give stephen mcphail a perfect opportunity but the ırishman screwed the ball wide. with only six minutes left ıan harte was perfectly positioned with a direct-free-kick but it ricocheted off the wall for a fruitless corner. the game petered out to a quiet end and galatasaray would have been well pleased with their 2-0 advantage, but united would rue their missed opportunities and sloppy defending.
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