Champions League: Fernandes double helps United beat Istanbul Basaksehir
Football
By
Reuters
| Nov 25, 2020
Manchester United stayed top of Champions League Group H with two goals from Bruno Fernandes helping them to a 4-1 win over Istanbul Basaksehir at Old Trafford on Tuesday.
Fernandes blasted United into a seventh-minute lead in spectacular fashion when a corner from Alex Telles was half-cleared to him on the edge of the area and his first-time drive whistled past Mert Gunok in the Basaksehir goal.
If the Turkish keeper was helpless to stop that effort he was clearly at fault for the second United goal, in the 19th minute, when he fumbled a cross from Telles, gifting Fernandes a simple tap-in.
Marcus Rashford then raced clear on to a long ball forward from Victor Lindelof, but Boli Bolingoli needlessly barged him over as he burst into the box and Rashford himself converted the penalty to make it 3-0.
Former Chelsea striker Demba Ba then had two great chances to get Basaksehir back in the game but he failed to find the target with a free header and then scuffed a shot from close-range.
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United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer opted to rest some of his key starters early in the second half with Mason Greenwood returning to the side as a substitute.
The Turkish side pulled a goal back in the 75th minute with a well-struck, left-footed free kick from Deniz Turuc which David De Gea did well to reach - but from behind the goal-line.
Basaksehir suddenly had some belief and United had a scare when Edin Visca struck the bar from distance, prompting Solskjaer to bring on Nemanja Matic to shore things up.
The game was put beyond doubt in stoppage time from a counter-attack, when Greenwood slipped the ball across to Dan James to slot home.