I played for Man United in ‘Welcome to Hell’ match at Galatasaray where players brawled and even police attacked

‘Welcome to hell’ read the banners as Manchester United stepped off the plane in Istanbul in November 1993… an apt foreshadowing of what was to come.

Sir Alex Ferguson took his side to Istanbul for one of the most intense and terrifying Champions League matches ever to be played – even he vowed never to return.

The first leg of the second round clash with Galatasaray had been drawn 3-3, setting up a feisty return clash at the Ali Sami Yen Stadium.

Thousands of Galatasaray fans were there to ‘welcome’ the Man United squad and midfielder Paul Ince recalls just how troubling the scenes were.

The United legend told talkSPORT: “We knew there were going to be Galatasaray fans, but we didn’t know the extent of how many were going to be there.

“We got wind about five or six days before the game that security would be heightened at the airport, but we got on the coach and saw banners that had pictures of people with nooses on, were making knife-gestures to their throats and saying ‘we’re gonna kill you’. We were all sitting there thinking ‘Jesus Christ’. 

“I actually remember we went out onto the pitch about two hours before kick-off, normally you have 30 fans in the corner, we got out there and the whole stadium was absolutely rammed. They were jumping up and down, up and down.

“We stood in the centre circle thinking ‘what a game this will be’.”

The whole stadium was filled with smoke from flares and the atmosphere was deafening, but the match itself was probably the least memorable moment of the whole saga as United were held to a 0-0 draw to see Galatasaray go through.

Roy Keane bemoaned that their opponents had ‘pulled every stroke in the book, diving, time-wasting, badgering the referee’. Then all hell broke loose.

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Eric Cantona had been sent off in the closing stages for insulting the referee and as the players made their way off the pitch the players became at real risk.

Cantona was attacked by a policeman and Bryan Robson was also injured as he tried to intervene.

Ince continued: “There was trouble in the tunnel, Cantona got hit, Robson got hit and we were looking for their security to protect us and they allowed it to happen.

“It kicked off in the tunnel and everyone was steaming in. It wasn’t a nice experience. Things have changed a bit since then, the stadium has changed. I’m sure the fans are just as passionate.”

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Keane wrote in his autobiography that Cantona wanted to exit the dressing room to find the rogue policeman to make things right, but fortunately for him he was stopped.

“We were all very passionate, we’d just got knocked out – not just Cantona, but we were all aggrieved about what happened out there,” Ince said of what happened in the changing rooms.

“Cantona got hit over the head and Robson got hit too, it wasn’t right. We felt aggrieved at what had happened and there were certain players who wanted to go out and rectify the situation.

“That’s just being in the moment and passionate. It was better for us that we stayed in the changing room.”

Ince played 281 times for Man United before moving to Inter Milan and then Liverpool – so knows a thing or two about fierce games and rivalries.

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“I’ve played in a few fierce games, and that was probably the scariest, not so much on the pitch but as soon as the whistle went and you could see fans coming. You got the understanding that the police weren’t going to protect you, then it got scary.”

United returned back to Manchester and Ferguson vowed he’d never go back to Istanbul… only to draw Galatasaray the following year.

Erik ten Hag takes his Manchester United to Galatasaray, with commentary live on talkSPORT at 5:45pm, and will be hoping for a friendlier reception that the club got back in 1993.