Keane smiled and Cantona was hit by riot police in 'most hostile' European atmosphere

This was Galatasaray's Ali Sami Yen at his intimidating best.

Manchester City may think they escaped Atletico Madrid's Wanda Metropolitano unscathed following some questionable antics from the hosts, but it was nothing compared to their neighbours' trip abroad.

As soon as the team touched down in Istanbul for their Champions League encounter in November 1993, home fans crowded them at the airport, hurled insults at them, held up banners that read 'Welcome to Hell' and then pelted the team coach with objects.

For youngsters David Beckham, Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs, it was eye opening, though the senior pros couldn't believe what they were seeing either.

Eric Cantona, though, seemed to lap it up as he strolled through the airport and Roy Keane had a smirk on his face as he left the team bus to a load of stick.

It continued at the hotel, with the home fans keen to ensure no visiting player had a good night's sleep by chanting all night and telephoning various rooms.

On matchday, meanwhile, fans had been gathering for hours prior to kick-off and the most incredible noise greeted the players as they made their way to the pitch - flanked by riot police.

"You couldn't hear the fella next to you," Keane said.

"When you walk up the steps to come out onto the pitch, all you can see is smoke," Bryan Robson told manutd.com.

"Certain parts of the ground, you can't even see it because that many flares have gone off. You know, right up until kick-off. That clears as the game goes on but doesn't really intimidate you that much.

"It's really just the sort of aggressiveness towards you, from everybody surrounding the pitch, that is quite intimidating. If you want to be playing at the top level and win major trophies, you've got to be mentally strong to put up with that."

The first leg had been drawn 3-3 at Old Trafford and a 0-0 draw here saw Sir Alex Ferguson's side eliminated on away goals.

But it wasn't performances on the pitch that will be remembered as there were more flash points to come such as Cantona being sent off.

"The police tried to pick fights with us," Paul Ince said, adding one of them hit his volatile teammate around the head as he made his way to the changing room.

Steve Bruce wasn't worried, however. "We had a few who could look after themselves and we gave as good as we got. It was certainly different when big rottweilers are biting you in a football match and policeman are hitting you with truncheons!"

Robson got stitches for his part in it all.

"When I got hit by a shield, I fell against the wall and split my arm. I had to have eight stitches in my elbow. So there were a lot of inquiries by UEFA into how things had happened when the game had finished.

"The police were a big part of it; they more or less joined in. I'd been to Istanbul when England played Turkey and if you get beat, it gets even worse."

It was so hectic that even Keane decided against scrapping.

Writing in his autobiography: "Normally, I wouldn't have backed off a fight, but even I wasn't up for this one! There were a lot of Turks out there!"

Neville, who was still a teenager at the time said it gave him valuable experience. "I learned more in 10 minutes than I probably learned did in the previous two years playing for the reserves and youth team."

So a European exit for United, but a learning curve for the 'Class of 92'.