Manchester United’s disappointing Champions League campaign came to an end as they got knocked out of the tournament after a 1-0 loss to Bayern Munich at Old Trafford. Bayern had already qualified for the knockouts so this match did not really matter much to them while United on the other hand not only needed to win against Bayern but also needed Galatasaray and Copenhagen to draw their match for them to qualify. Unfortunately for them, both of these things didn’t happen.
Overall, the match between United and Bayern was quite boring as both sides never really looked like scoring especially in the 1st half. At the 32nd minute mark, Bayern’s Leroy Sané had a great chance to put the visitors ahead but he miscued his shot. United’s Luke Shaw also came close to scoring but Bayern’s keeper, Manuel Neuer easily saved his shot.
With the 1st half coming to a close, United were struck with a major blow as their centre-back Harry Maguire picked up a groin injury in between the match. He had been in great form for quite some time and was a crucial player for United coming into this match. Because of this, United were forced to make a substitution as Johnny Evans came on to replace Maguire. With this, the 1st half concluded.
Both sides made changes coming into the 2nd half as United brought on Aaron Wan-Bissaka for Luke Shaw while Bayern brought on Konrad Laimer for Noussair Mazraoui. United started the 2nd half strong as Bruno Fernandes had a great chance to score but in the end Neuer made an easy save. Bayern’s defense looked a little unsettled when Alejandro Garnacho got into a good position to cross at the edge of the box but unfortunately his cross was blocked by Bayern’s Kim Min-Jae.
The pressure started to mount on United as the news arrived that Copenhagen had scored against Galatasaray in the 58th minute. This meant that, United would go out of the Champions League even if they won against Bayern. However, if they won then they would finish 3rd in their group and would qualify for the Europa League knockout stages so they still had to keep their composure and try their best to win.
However, Bayern’s centre-backs, Kim Min-Jae and Dayot Upamecano were not allowing United’s forwards to even come close to goal. On the other hand, Bayern’s forwards were also asking questions of United’s defense regularly. The Bavarians finally opened the scoring in the 71st minute when Harry Kane gave a beautiful through pass to Kingsley Coman who put the ball in the back of the net and ended United’s hopes of even going through to the Europa League.
United tried a lot to find the equalizing goal in the last 15 minutes but Bayern’s defense was too good and didn’t give them any chance to score. Then the final whistle blew as United lost 1-0 to Bayern at home. This meant that the red devils were knocked out of not only the Champions League but all the European competitions this year. Copenhagen won their match against Galatasaray by 1-0 which meant that they finished 2nd in the group and were through to the Champions League knockouts while Galatasaray finished the group at 3rd and were through to the Europa League knockouts.
For United, this has got to be the most disappointing Champions League campaign in their history. At the moment, United’s season has been nothing short of horrendous and their manager, Erik Ten Hag needs to do a lot of work so that his side can improve and end this string of bad results.