‘Hell awaits Man Utd – fans spat & made vile gestures during Leeds’ fatal trip’

It was the rat that did it.

The sight of a giant rodent scuttling across the concrete steps of the press box that turned hardened hacks into emotional wrecks.

Welcome to the Ali Sami Yen Stadium. Welcome to Hell.

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Manchester United won't have to run out at the same place for their Champions League showdown with Galatasaray on Wednesday night. The infamous Ali Sami Yen was bulldozed in 2011 – and might just have been the best thing that ever happened to the place.

Yet United did sample how brutal and unforgiving the stadium could be back in 1993, when Sir Alex Ferguson's side crashed out of Europe, with a little nudge from Turkish riot police.

If you're old enough, do you remember your emotions off the back of Leeds' horrible night back in 2000? Please share with us in the comments section.

Seven years later it was the turn of Leeds to suffer much more fateful consequences during an infamous trip to Istanbul for a UEFA Cup semi final. The backdrop to the game became one of the darkest episodes in the club's long and proud history – and will never be forgotten by those who were there.

On the eve of the match violence broke out in Taksim Square, which resulted in two Leeds supporters being stabbed to death. The then Leeds chairman, Peter Ridsdale, descended on the hospital where he spent the entire night, before returning to the team hotel where people were having breakfast.

English and local media waited outside the hospital for news. A local vendor took full advantage and turned up offering kebabs for sale from his mobile catering unit. Despite the grievous nature of what had happened, he wasn't going to miss the chance to try and make a few Lira.

Leeds wanted the game called off and had organised a private jet to fly them home. But UEFA wouldn't let them, so the first leg took place amid scenes of unprecedented hostility, emotion and intimidation rarely seen before.

The team bus – and that belonging to the English media – was attacked with bricks en-route to the stadium in the Sisli district of Istanbul. People were spat at and threatened with throat-slitting gestures. Local police had to form a cordon to make sure we all got inside unhurt.

The ground was seething mass of passion, hatred and vitriol two hours before kick off. It held less than 35,000, but sounded like Anfield on steroids.

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The place itself was a dump, strewn with litter, vermin and weeds growing between the cracks of an antiquated stadium barely fit for purpose.

Home supporters used torches, drums, flares and huge flags to create some kind of visual attack on the opponents. And before kick off, those brave souls from Leeds crammed into one corner of the ground, before turning their backs on the pitch as a mark of respect to the two friends they'd lost and defiance to the country which had taken them.

It all happened nearly a quarter of a century ago. But the memories are so vivid and lasting, it could have been yesterday.

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