Manchester United fans were left feeling ‘irate’ after having to leave Fenerbahce’s stadium one at a time, hours after the final whistle.
The Red Devils saw out a 1-1 draw against their former boss Jose Mourinho’s side in the Europa League on Thursday, with Christian Eriksen opening the scoring before Youssef En-Nesyri equalised.
Mourinho was sent off and gave a fiery interview which saw him sarcastically dig at the referee and make a bizarre claim about managing in UEFA competitions.
But the drama didn’t end when Mourinho stepped away from the microphone, as more than two thousand Man United fans were made to feel like they were ‘being held hostage’ as they tried to leave the stadium.
Footage on social media shows Red Devils supporters slowly moving towards one exit in the away end – a narrow door with authorities standing outside it.
One video had the caption: “Manchester United fans were made to exit Fenerbahce’s stadium one at a time two hours after the final whistle.”
And a number of fans spoke to talkSPORT’s Chief Football Correspondent Alex Crook about the unsavoury situation.
One supporter said: “[The police] got talking to us in the day and they said expect up to 60 minutes [to wait to leave after the final whistle].
“I think we expected that. I’d usually say about 20 minutes to 30 minutes [to leave] abroad. But we got to about 45 minutes, looked like a bit of movement.
“But then I think it took us to the hour. I think we were knocking on about an hour and 40 after the game.
“Everyone was pleasant enough, but there was just no communication, nothing. We were just sat there waiting to get back home really.
“I think we worked out about five hours in the ground and we weren’t too early going in either.”
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Supporters were also reportedly forced to take public transport from the ground too, despite some staying within walking distance.
“I had been forced to get on the buses afterwards,” the supporter – who had a 16-year-old with him – continued. “Even though we were [staying a] 15 minutes walk to the ground, deliberately planned where we were staying.
“It just felt like you were being held hostage for something that didn’t need to be like that.
“There were no Fenerbahce supporters left around the stadium when we came out. They could have easily just let us go.”
And whilst Man United fans handled the situation well, the conditions of the stadium were also said to be an issue.
A second supporter said: “I think United fans were getting irate because they were forced to do something that perhaps they didn’t want to do against their own will after being kept in for so long. I mean, even coming out of the ground, it was like a bottleneck. It was just one entry, wasn’t there?
“One doorway to get 2,500 fans out. You can see how people kept their cool, didn’t they? The police were very good with us, I must say. But even the standard of facilities there, the toilets, we were up to our ankles in water after and everything else, yeah.
“So, yeah, to be fair to United fans, I thought they dealt it quite well and kept their cool. And so did the police. But the whole situation could have been avoided and could have had an earlier night and perhaps joined a bit more wrestling ball than we did.”
Man United sit 21st in the Europa League table, four points off coming out of the play-off places and breaking into the qualifying spots.
