Misfiring Manchester United and an Inter Milan who have fired coach Frank de Boer can take a welcome boost from the Europa League in matchday four of the group phase on Thursday.
The epic Group phase of 12 round robin pools of four teams is remarkably close so far with only Zenit, Ajax, Shakhtar Donetsk and Schalke 04 eyeing qualification for the knock out round with Thursday wins.
Much has been made of United’s 37 shots without a goal against Burnley at the weekend, the failure to hit the ground running of £89 million signing Paul Pogba and the sorrowful sight of Zlatan Ibrahimovic shorn of his confidence.
United take on Turkish side Fenerbahce having thumped them 4-1 last time out as Pogba scored twice ahead of a derby boost with a 1-0 League Cup win over Man City.
“Two days ago he was the worst player in the Premier League and 48 hours later he’s phenomenal,” said manager Jose Mourinho at the time of the French midfielder, who is struggling to live up to his price tag.
Feyenoord and United are level top of Group A on six points while the Turks, led by Dick Advocaat and featuring a Robin Van Persie who scored at Old Trafford two weeks ago, have four points.
Defender Marcos Rojo felt the Burnley game could be seen as a positive.
“Obviously, against City, we got the victory, and the last match, versus Burnley, we had 37 chances. A goal would have been the icing on the cake,” he said.
“We are getting to the level where we can play as a team. We are playing with a great intensity, throughout the whole of the match,” he told Sky TV this week.
Rojo is set to start and with fellow defenders Eric Bailly and Antonio Valencia injured, German veteran midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger has made a shock return to first team training.
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