Fenerbahce players escape death as plane made emergency landing

Fenerbahce’s team plane has been forced to make an emergency landing after it was hit by a bird on its way to the UK for Thursday’s Europa League game against Manchester United.

The private chartered aircraft was travelling from Istanbul in Turkey when it was diverted to Budapest, Hungary.
A second plane was then sent from Istanbul to pick the team up from Budapest and take them to Manchester.

The Turkish side play United at Old Trafford in Group A at 20:05 BST.

The club’s Twitter account tweeted there was “nothing alarming” after the incident.

Fenerbahce, who are ninth in Turkey’s Super Lig, are currently top of the Europa League group and a point ahead of United, who are in third.

Their team includes ex-United striker Robin van Persie and former Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel.