© Reuters
Head-to-head record
Previous meetings: 8
Galatasaray wins: 2
Draws: 4
Man Utd wins: 2
Familiar foes from Champions League campaigns of yesteryear, Manchester United and Galatasaray met for the seventh and eighth times in Europe's top tournament in the 2023-24 season, where a mammoth 11 goals were shared across their two contests.
Rasmus Hojlund was on hand to finish off two sweeping counter-attacks from the men in red in October 2023, and his pair of strikes came either side of a leveller from one of his attacking predecessors at Old Trafford - Wilfried Zaha.
Even after Kerem Akturkoglu had equalised for the visitors again, Man United's luck was seemingly in when Mauro Icardi fluffed his lines from 12 yards, but only three minutes after his penalty pain, Icardi delicately dinked the ball over Andre Onana to complete a scintillating turnaround for Galatasaray.
Several weeks after that remarkable 3-2 triumph for the Turks, Erik ten Hag's men were on course for revenge at Rams Park, only to blow a 3-1 advantage in an equally engrossing 3-3 stalemate, where Hakim Ziyech netted twice to help send Man United out of Europe early.
Prior to October 2023's five-goal thriller, it had been 11 years since Man United and Galatasaray squared up to one another, and that encounter at Rams Park in November 2012 also went the way of the Turkish giants, who had a Burak Yilmaz header to thank for a 1-0 triumph.
Galatasaray are therefore unbeaten in three matches versus Man United, but none of their first five meetings yielded success for the hosts, who were beaten by a 1-0 scoreline at Old Trafford in September 2012 thanks to a seventh-minute Michael Carrick strike.
That slender success also marked a fourth consecutive clean sheet for Man United against Galatasaray, who were trounced 4-0 at Old Trafford in December 1994 - David Beckham and Roy Keane were among the scorers that day - although they did hold Sir Alex Ferguson's men to a goalless group-stage draw in Istanbul earlier that year.
The 1994-95 campaign marked the second time in a row that Man United and Galatasaray had been drawn to face one another, as during the days of an eight-team group stage in 1993-94, the two clubs were first paired with each other in the foregoing second round.
Once again, their showdown on Galatasaray's turf ended goalless, but their maiden meeting at Old Trafford in October 1993 was a truly captivating clash, where an 80th-minute Eric Cantona effort concluded a mesmerising 3-3 draw at the Theatre of Dreams.
Previous meetings
Nov 29, 2023: Galatasaray 3-3 Man Utd (Champions League Group Stage)
Oct 03, 2023: Man Utd 2-3 Galatasaray (Champions League Group Stage)
Nov 20, 2012: Galatasaray 1-0 Man Utd (Champions League Group Stage)
Sep 19, 2012: Man Utd 1-0 Galatasaray (Champions League Group Stage)
Dec 07, 1994: Man Utd 4-0 Galatasaray (Champions League Group Stage)
Sep 28, 1994: Galatasaray 0-0 Man Utd (Champions League Group Stage)
Nov 03, 1993: Galatasaray 0-0 Man Utd (Champions League Second Round)
Oct 20, 1993: Man Utd 3-3 Galatasaray (Champions League Second Round)
Ben Knapton
