Man Utd 0-1 Bayern Munich: How United's worst-ever Champions League campaign unfolded

 

Man Utd v Bayern Munich
Manchester United conceded 15 goals from their six matches

Manchester United's return to the Champions League was part of the body of work that suggested Erik ten Hag was the transformative figure who had blown the cobwebs away from a dilapidated Old Trafford.

It was meant to be proof that United were back where they belonged after the missteps and misery of Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho - even though he won the League Cup and Europa League - and latterly Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Ten Hag even had tangible success with a League Cup win in his first season, but if this wretched Champions League campaign has been any measure of the current status of Manchester United and their manager, the great transformer is now closer to being a busted flush.

This has been a shocking campaign, a chastening dose of cold reality that saw United finish bottom of a group they would have welcomed when the draw was made, fourth behind Bayern Munich, FC Copenhagen and Galatasaray.

The Champions League is the most unforgiving of environments. Every United flaw, and they are certainly not short of them, has been brutally exposed from the start.

And it all ended in the most timid of circumstances, a United side who should have come out swinging losing 1-0 to a Bayern side with nothing to play for, Ten Hag's players mustering a mere one shot on target in the process.

It was all a far cry from the Old Trafford nights of old when supporters were glued to their seats until the final whistle sounded.

Thousands of United fans had given up and left long before the end here and who could blame them?

Comments