Manchester United v Sabah: Preview, expected line-ups, stats and where to watch

UEFA Champions League, League Stage – 1

Manchester United MUN

10/09/2026 20:00

Sabah FA

Old Trafford

Preview for Manchester United v Sabah

Manchester United boss Michael Carrick is relishing their return to the Champions League as 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 stages.

A Carrick-inspired upturn in their Premier League fortunes secured a third-placed finish and Champions League qualification, with the Red Devils set to get their first taste of the new league phase format.

They will be heavy favourites to make a strong start against Champions League debutants Sabah, the champions of Azerbaijan’s top flight.

Bigger challenges lie in wait for United, who have also been drawn against Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich, Sporting CP, Roma, Como, RB Leipzig and Villarreal.

And Carrick, who has seen his side make an uneven start to their 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 worked hard to be here. It’s great to be here, massively looking forward to the game and the campaign and try to make it as long as we can possibly make it,” Carrick told a pre-match press conference.

“Big challenges ahead and real fantastic games starting tomorrow so massively looking forward to it.”

United have only reached two Champions League quarter-finals in the last 15 years, but Carrick is confident that he has a squad capable of competing to improve that record.

He added: “I don’t think it’s a kind of going, ‘If we get to a certain stage, that’s a success, and if we don’t, it’s not’. We’ve got to embrace the new challenge that we face as a group and push to what we can push to. 

“I think we’re capable of doing some really good things in this competition and going further down the line in this competition, and then who knows when it gets to that stage. I’m not writing anything off, but again, taking it step by step and certainly not getting ahead of ourselves, you know, because some part of it is a new experience for some of the players, and as a group it is a bit of a new experience right currently now.

“But the boys are used to playing European football for the most part in different competitions and we’ll take that forward, and we’ve got a squad that’s strong enough to compete.”

In Sabah, United are facing a side that only came into existence in 2017 and has enjoyed a rapid rise under Lithuanian coach Valdas Dambrauskas.

Sabah won a dramatic play-off with Hapoel Be’er Sheva to punch their ticket to the league phase, and Carrick is not taking them lightly.

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

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

“You can see the way they are playing. They take the ball and play through the pitch, they have some good connections, press well as a team so we are obviously fully aware of what we are up against and the challenges that we face.”

The UEFA Champions League Table

UEFA Champions League 2026

World

#	Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Last 4
1	Manchester City	1	1	0	0	2	0	2	3	W
2	Aston Villa	1	1	0	0	3	2	1	3	W
3	Real Betis	1	1	0	0	3	2	1	3	W
4	Borussia Dortmund	1	1	0	0	3	2	1	3	W
5	Real Madrid	1	1	0	0	2	1	1	3	W
6	AEK Athens FC	1	1	0	0	1	0	1	3	W
7	Arsenal	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
8	Liverpool	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
9	Manchester United	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
10	Paris Saint Germain	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
11	Napoli	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
12	Slavia Praha	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
13	Lens	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
14	Slovan Bratislava	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	W D W W
15	Bayern München	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
16	AS Roma	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
17	PSV Eindhoven	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
18	Feyenoord	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
19	Barcelona	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
20	Atletico Madrid	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
21	VfB Stuttgart	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
22	Viking	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	W D
23	Bodo/Glimt	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	W W W D
24	Sporting CP	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
25	Galatasaray	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
26	Fenerbahçe	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	W D W W
27	Shakhtar Donetsk	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
28	Como	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
29	RB Leipzig	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
30	Sabah FA	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	W L W L
31	Villarreal	1	0	0	1	2	3	-1	0	L
32	Lille	1	0	0	1	2	3	-1	0	L
33	Club Brugge KV	1	0	0	1	2	3	-1	0	L
34	Inter	1	0	0	1	1	2	-1	0	L
35	Lask Linz	1	0	0	1	0	1	-1	0	L
36	FC Porto	1	0	0	1	0	2	-2	0	L

• Position 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 : Promotion – Champions League (Play Offs: 1/8-finals)
• Position 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 : Promotion – Champions League (Play Offs: 1/16-finals)

Team News for Manchester United v Sabah

Matthijs de Ligt (back), Manuel Ugarte (knee), Carlos Baleba (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 was involved in training on Wednesday.

Sabah have no new injury issues for the game.

Expected line-ups for Manchester United v Sabah

Manchester United: Lammens; Dalot, Yoro, Martinez, Mazraoui; Santos, Mainoo; Mbeumo, Fernandes, Cunha; Sesko

Sabah: Pokatilov; Solvet, Dashdamirov, Puchacz, Zedadka; Rakhmonaliev, Isaev, Lepinjica, Parris; Mickels, Simic

Recent Form & Stats for Manchester United v Sabah

• United are set to face an Azerbaijani side for the first time ever in European competition.
• In major European competition, English teams have never lost against sides from Azerbaijan in 11 previous meetings (W10 D1), with all 11 coming against Qarabag between 2015-16 and 2025-26.
• United haven’t won their first game in any of their last four major European seasons (D1 L3) since winning 2-1 away at Paris Saint-Germain in their first game of the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League.
• United last featured in the Champions League in the 2023-24 campaign, when they were eliminated in the group stage. The Red Devils have won just one of their last nine games in the competition (D3 L5).
• Sabah will feature in a major European competition for the first time in their history and become just the second team from Azerbaijan to play in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League, following Qarabag (eliminated in group stage in 2017-18, reached play-offs in 2025-26).
• This game will be four years and 291 days since Carrick’s first Champions League game as manager, in his caretaker spell with United in November 2021 (2-0 win over Villarreal). Only Gian Piero Gasperini (8y 4d, 2011-19), Vincenzo Montella (6y 350d, 2011-18) and Sergei Semak (5y 182d, 2014-19) have had a bigger gap between their first two games.
• Sabah boss Dambrauskas will be the first ever Lithuanian to manage in the Champions League – he has lost five of his seven major European games (W1 D1) during spells with Ludogorets and Omonia Nicosia. The last Lithuanian player to feature in the Champions League was Deividas Semberas in December 2011 for CSKA Moscow.
• Rashford has been involved in 25 goals in 48 Champions League appearances (17 goals, 8 assists). However, Rashford averages a goal or assist more regularly not playing for United (one every 89 minutes for Aston Villa and Barcelona) than he does while playing for the Red Devils (one every 135 minutes).
• Bruno Fernandes has been involved in 15 goals in 19 Champions League appearances for United (6 goals, 9 assists), scoring or assisting every 100 minutes. Among players to play 500+ minutes, only Ruud van Nistelrooy (one every 79 minutes) has scored or assisted more regularly.

Where to Watch Manchester United v Sabah: TV and online streams

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

Prediction for Manchester United v Sabah

Tougher tests will await for United in the Champions League, and they should be able to get through this one in relatively routine fashion.

Match Prediction

Manchester United

2 – 0

Sabah FA

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