Manchester United vs Sabah: First look, expected lineup, stats and where to watch G Trends

Summary of the Manchester United v Sabah match

Manchester United coach Michael Carrick will relish his return to the Champions League when they face Sabah at Old Trafford on Thursday.

United have not played in Europe’s biggest competition since exiting the 2023-24 tournament in the group stage.

A Carrick-inspired upturn in their Premier League fortunes saw them finish third and qualify for the Champions League, with the Red Devils set to try their first taste of the new league stage system.

They will be heavy favorites to get off to a strong start against Azerbaijani First Division champions Sabah, who are making their Champions League debut.

Bigger challenges await United, who have also been drawn against Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich, Sporting Lisbon, Roma, Como, RB Leipzig and Villarreal.

And Carrick, who has seen his side start to an uneven start to the Premier League season with four points from three games, is excited to tackle the task of leading United to the knockout stages for the first time since 2022.

“We’ve worked hard to be here. It’s great to be here, and we’re very much looking forward to the game and the season and trying to make it happen for as long as possible,” Carrick said in a pre-match press conference.

“The next big challenges and real great matches start tomorrow, so I’m really looking forward to it.”

United have only reached the Champions League quarter-finals twice in the last 15 years, but Carrick is confident they have a competitive squad to improve on that record.

He added: “I don’t think it’s a matter of saying ‘If we reach a certain stage, it’s a success, and if we don’t, it’s not.’ We have to embrace the new challenge we face as a group and push towards what we can move forward to achieve.”

“I think we can do some really good things in this competition and move forward in this competition, and who knows when we get to that stage. I’m not writing anything off, but again, I’m taking it step by step and certainly not getting ahead of ourselves, you know, because part of it is a new experience for some of the players, and as a group it’s a bit of a new experience at the moment.”

He added: “But the boys are used to playing European football mostly in different competitions, and we will move forward with that, and we have a strong enough team to compete.”

In Sabah, United face a team that only came into being in 2017 and has enjoyed a meteoric rise under Lithuanian coach Valdas Dambrauskas.

Sabah won a dramatic playoff with Hapoel Be’er Sheva to secure a place in the league stage, and Carrick is not taking them lightly.

“First of all, I think they are a very well-coached team,” Carrick said.

“You can see that quite clearly, with the ideas and principles they have. They have won a lot of football games over the last 12 months or so. They play with great confidence.

“You can see the way they play. They hold the ball, they play up the pitch, they have good communications, they press well as a team, so obviously we are very aware of what we are up against and the challenges we are facing.”

Champions League schedule

Team news for the Manchester United vs. Sabah match

Matthijs de Ligt (back), Manuel Ugarte (knee), Carlos Paleba (ankle), Amad Diallo (ankle) and Tom Heaton (hamstring) are all unavailable for United.

Marcus Rashford came off with a knock in the 2-2 draw against Everton, but took part in training on Wednesday.

Sabah does not have any new injury problems in the match.

The expected lineup for the Manchester United vs. Sabah match

Manchester United: lamence. Dalot, Euro, Martinez, Mazraoui; Saints, Lord. Mbeumo, Fernandez, Cunha; cisco

morning: Pokatilov. Solvet, Dashdamirov, Buchach, Zadadka; Rakhmonaliev, Isayev, Lipinica, Paris; Michaels, Simic

Latest model and statistics for Manchester United vs Sabah

• United are set to face an Azerbaijani team for the first time ever in European competition.
• In major European competitions, English teams have never lost to teams from Azerbaijan in 11 previous meetings (W10, D1), with all 11 coming against Karabakh between 2015-16 and 2025-26.
• United have not won their first match in any of their last four major European seasons (D1 L3) since a 2-1 win away to Paris Saint-Germain in their first match in the 2020-21 Champions League.
• United’s last appearance in the Champions League was in the 2023-24 season, when they were eliminated in the group stage. The Red Devils have won only one of their last nine matches in the competition (D3 L5).
• Sabah will participate in a major European competition for the first time in its history, and will become the second team from Azerbaijan to play in the European Cup/Champions League, after Karabakh (they were eliminated in the group stage in the 2017-2018 season, and reached the play-offs in the 2025-2026 season).
• This match will have been four years and 291 days since Carrick’s first Champions League match as a manager, during his spell with United in November 2021 (2-0 win over Villarreal). Only Gian Piero Gasperini (8 years 4 days, 2011-19), Vincenzo Montella (6 years 350 days, 2011-18) and Sergei Simac (5 years 182 days, 2014-19) have a larger gap between their first two matches.
• Sabah coach Dambrauskas will be the first Lithuanian ever to coach the Champions League – having lost five of his seven major European matches (W1 D1) during spells with Ludogorets and Omonia Nicosia. The last Lithuanian player to participate in the Champions League was Davidas Simperas in December 2011 for CSKA Moscow.
• Rashford has been involved in 25 goals in 48 Champions League matches (scored 17, assisted 8). However, Rashford scores a goal or an assist more regularly when he’s not playing for United (a goal every 89 minutes for Aston Villa and Barcelona) than he does while playing for the Red Devils (a goal every 135 minutes).
• Bruno Fernandes has been involved in 15 goals in 19 Champions League matches for United (6 goals, 9 assists), scoring or assisting every 100 minutes. Of players who played more than 500 minutes, only Ruud van Nistelrooy (one every 79 minutes) scored or assisted more regularly.

Where to watch Manchester United vs Sabah: TV and online broadcast

The Manchester United vs Sabah match kicks off at 8:00pm on Thursday. It will air on TNT Sports 1 and will be available to stream on HBO Max. Sky subscribers with the included TNT package can also stream the game via Sky Go.

Predict the result of the Manchester United vs Al Sabah match

United will be awaiting tougher tests in the Champions League, and they should be able to pass this test in a relatively routine manner.

Manchester United

2 – 0

Morning Fa

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