Another week and another journey. Make the most of it.
Welcome to Hell. That was the charming advice given to teams from England when they’ve played in Istanbul before, and it’s why our supporters are having to go on an expedition to get to the match on Thursday. If it was the other way round we’d be banned until the end of time but one rule for them has always been the Uefa doctrine and it’s not going to change for us.
Anyway, Fenerbahce. We played them in 1977 and won easily enough but Turkish football has improved a bit since then. We sold them Dalian Atkinson and if you want to feel old that was more than thirty years ago. They’ve got a left-back born in Birmingham who came through the Albion academy, so we missed out on him twice. They’ve also got Marco Asensio, who’s played for some of the world’s great cluba as well as Jhon Duran, so Dalian wasn’t the biggest lunatic the club’s ever had.
Duran should have been suspended for this one but his ban was reduced earlier this week. Sometimes you wonder if we’re just imagining it. We sold them Diego Carlos and they’ve got rid of him already. Jose Mourinho used to manage them and it’s a pity he still doesn’t because we always did well against him. They’re currently second in the Turkish league and twelfth in the Europa League, which is a place below Forest if that’s any consolation.
We’ve got the world’s number one staying at home while Amadou Onana’s out there and training. It won’t be a Moscow team but it won’t be full-strength because a lot of our strength is injured. Tammy Abraham might be parachuted in before the match but don’t count on it.
You know all about their supporters. They’re probably in the ground already, they make a lot of noise and kick up a bit of a fuss. They’ve not got so much rivals as sworn enemies and their biggest are from a different continent. That’s where we’ve one over on them because our biggest rivals are from a different planet. Another win and we’re pretty much in the last eight and that should be enough to get one.
