It's the first time that the Red Devils will have faced a team from Azerbaijan in European competition, though the record of English clubs against Azerbaijani opponents will give them encouragement.
Man United haven't won a UCL opening game since 2020/21
To date, in the 11 fixtures against Qarabag, no English side has ever lost, with 10 of those games being won by teams from the Premier League and one being drawn.
That's good news for United, who haven't won their opening game in any European campaign since beating Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 at the start of the 2020/21 Champions League.
Furthermore, the North West giants have won only one of their last nine UCL matches (D3, L5), and were eliminated in the group stage of the 23/24 edition.
Michael Carrick will take charge of United in the competition for the first time in four years and 291 days, with the last time he led a Red Devils team in the UCL coming against Villarreal in November 2021.
Sabah are huge underdogs for a reason
Only three other managers have a longer gap between Champions League games: Gian Piero Gasperini (eight years, four days), Vincenzo Montella (six years, 350 days) and Sergei Samak (five years, 182 days).
Carrick will be under no illusions as to what this game represents, and the locals who will turn up to Old Trafford in the tens of thousands will be expecting nothing less than a big win and a comprehensive attacking performance.
In truth, Sabah themselves are unlikely to expect anything from their run in this season's competition, save for some magnificent experiences that their players will remember for the rest of their careers.
Manager Valdas Dambrauskas has lost five of the seven European games that he's taken charge of (for Ludogorets and Omonia Nicosia), but this will be his first foray into the Champions League.
Simic the dangerman?
In what is Sabah's first European campaign of any description, Dambrauskas also becomes the first Lithuanian to manage in the UCL.
Veljko Simic, Sabah's Serbian winger, does have previous Champions League experience, but he neither scored nor assisted in any of the five games that he played in the competition for Crvena Zvezda (Red Star Belgrade), none of which he ended on the winning side.
Simic also has six goals in qualifying for Sabah and will undoubtedly prove to be their danger man on the night.
The team have scored in their last 14 matches in all competitions, and won five of their last six games, scoring 18 goals and conceding just four.
United will look to Bruno Fernandes
For United, Bruno Fernandes remains their talisman and conduit from defence to attack.
The Portuguese already has 15 goal involvements in 19 Champions League games for the Red Devils (6G, 9A), at a rate of one every 100 minutes.
That rate is only bettered in the tournament from a United perspective by Ruud van Nistelrooy, with the Dutchman managing a goal involvement once every 79 minutes.
Another front man, Marcus Rashford, will be hoping to hit the heights now he's back at the club after loan spells at Aston Villa and Barcelona.
Rashford looking to return to form
Remarkably, considering the time he's spent at his boyhood club, he actually has a better goal involvement output in the competition at Villa and Barca than he does at United.
17 goals and eight assists in 48 UCL appearances for the Red Devils give him an involvement once every 135 minutes, compared to one in every 89 minutes at the Villans and the Spanish giants.
Being settled back in the team under Carrick might well be the best way of seeing that form return, and for Rashford to belatedly become one of the club's go-to players once more.
United have won one, drawn one and lost one of their three Premier League games this season, which isn't the sort of record that Carrick will be proud of, and whilst they've scored seven goals in those games, they've also let in six.
Guarding against complacency has to be on the minds of all United's players, because if Sabah were to get even a point at the Theatre of Dreams, it'll be a nightmare for the hosts.
Jason Pettigrove has been the features writer for Flashscore since 2025, utilising Opta data to form the basis of his articles. He has previously worked for high profile football clubs, news and media outlets, both in print and digital, and can usually be found watching FC Barcelona when time permits. You can read more of his pieces here.
