When Manchester United take to the pitch in the Champions League league phase, they will find themselves opposite a coach whose path to Europe's top club competition is anything but conventional.
Valdas Dambrauskas, the Lithuanian in charge of Azerbaijani side Sabah, has guided his club into the Champions League league phase for the first time in the club's brief nine-year history. Sabah, crowned national champions last season, navigated four qualifying rounds, defeating The New Saints, KuPS, AGF Aarhus and Hapoel Be'er Sheva to book their spot among Europe's elite.
Unlike the majority of his managerial peers, Dambrauskas never built a professional playing career to fall back on. Instead, his route into football coaching began in an unlikely setting: a television game show. While studying engineering, he appeared on the Lithuanian version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" in the early 2000s, winning 4,000 litas — around £730 at the time. He used those winnings to travel to England and begin working toward his football coaching qualifications.
Dambrauskas went on to study sports science and coaching at London Metropolitan University while gaining early coaching experience in the youth academies of Fulham and Brentford. In a twist of fate given Wednesday's opponents, he also spent time working at Manchester United's own Soccer School.
He returned to Lithuania in 2010, joining champions FK Ekranas as an assistant head coach and reserve team manager, before taking his first full head coaching role at Zalgiris. From there, his career took him across Europe, including stints at Ludogorets and Hajduk Split, where he delivered the Croatian club's first major trophy in nine years.
Dambrauskas has been at the helm of Sabah since June of last year, and his impact has been immediate and significant. Under his guidance, the club secured both the league title and the Azerbaijan Cup, before completing their qualifying campaign to reach the Champions League league phase — a remarkable achievement for a club founded less than a decade ago.
Standing in the opposite technical area will be Michael Carrick, who takes charge of his first Champions League fixture as a permanent manager. The former United midfielder returned to Old Trafford in January, initially as a caretaker appointment following the departure of Ruben Amorim, and he has previous experience steering the club through a similar interim role. Back in 2021, after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's dismissal, Carrick led United to a 2-0 victory over Villarreal, a 1-1 draw with Chelsea, and a 3-2 win against Arsenal, before handing the reins to Ralf Rangnick for the remainder of that season.
This time, Carrick's stewardship proved compelling enough for the club to hand him a permanent contract. United finished third in the Premier League last term under his watch, a result strong enough to secure qualification for the Champions League and convince the club hierarchy that Carrick was the right man to lead them into the new campaign on a full-time basis.
Now the two managers, with starkly different journeys to the top table of European football, will meet as United begin their league phase campaign against a Sabah side determined to make the most of their historic appearance on this stage.
Based on reporting from Standard (Sport).