Kingsley Coman strikes to end Manchester United’s Champions League nightmare

Champions League: Manchester United 0 Bayern Munich 1

Anything is possible, Erik ten Hag had claimed, if Manchester United brought their A-game. And yet it still felt outlandish to really believe they were about to beat Bayern Munich, let alone have the other Group A game between Copenhagen and Galatasaray end in a draw; the double whammy to save their skin.

United, after all, have not beaten a top-ranked team during this traumatic season. They have only won once against opponents that currently sit in the top half of the Premier League table – and that was 10th-placed Fulham. They were not terrible, they competed, they were not blown away by the champions of Germany. These are the kind of positives for which their fans must scrape. But it was a night when they barely laid a glove on a Bayern team that largely operated within themselves.

Bayern ensured they did not run the risk of being floored by a United slingshot when they scored in the 70th minute, Harry Kane manipulating a superb pass through for Kingsley Coman to finish after Bayern had probed on the edge of the area and United were left to pick through the wreckage of a disastrous return to Europe’s elite competition. There were boos from the Old Trafford crowd as their players rocked on to their haunches at full time.

The bookmakers had United at 10-1 to progress and it was possible to hear the intake of breath from the club’s support when they saw the visiting lineup. It shimmered with menace, Thomas Tuchel recalling the fit-again Jamal Musiala to go with his strongest available XI. It was not only about Bayern seeking to extend their record of 39 games without defeat in the group stages.

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It was about showing who they were after Saturday’s 5-1 humbling at Eintracht Frankfurt. “You’re sh*t and you know you are,” the Bayern fans chanted in perfect English before kick-off, really owning the put-down, and it was a night when United had to be considerably better than they had been all season. Ten Hag’s big move was to recall Raphaël Varane in central defence, giving him his first football since November 11. Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial were ill. Add them to Ten Hag’s injury list, which already numbered seven players beforehand and add Harry Maguire, too, who pulled his groin in the 37th minute and was replaced by Jonny Evans.

Bayern settled ominously quickly. Musiala, outstanding in the 4-3 home win over United in the opening round of group games, roved from the number 10 position, linking the play, pushing high, too, and there was the added threat of Harry Kane dropping off into midfield, picking his passes. Bayern passed and passed. And when United had the ball, they made life extremely difficult for them. Rasmus Højlund’s battle with Dayot Upamecano looked more like a wrestling contest at times; United had to fight for every inch.

The worry for ten Hag was the centre of the pitch because Bayern not only had Musiala and Kane moonlighting there, they had their wingers slicing inside. For example, Leroy Sané on 27 minutes. He swapped passes with Musiala and glided into a seam of space, leaving red shirts in his wake before Maguire stepped in. The ball broke to Musiala and Diogo Dalot did well to snuff him out.

United measured their first-half progress in defensive interventions – big tackles and blocks – rather than anything they were able to offer in the final third. The hard truth was that Bayern’s backline was pretty much untroubled before the interval, despite United’s honest endeavour and one blast from Luke Shaw, which Manuel Neuer dealt with comfortably. It was not just Upamecano’s strength, it was his pace, too. Ditto his central defensive partner, Kim Min-jae. Ten Hag had to reason that while it remained goalless, his team had a puncher’s chance and they did, as Bayern could not find a decisive touch in the first half.

André Onana had a regulation save to make from Kane and Bayern twice almost got in up the sides. Noussair Mazraoui missed Sané in the middle after a Kane pass up the channel and it was a cross that Mazraoui will feel he might have made. Then there was a Kingsley Coman delivery that he whipped over Dalot but Sané could not get his feet set properly for the volley.

Ten Hag had no luck with injuries. Shaw became the latest casualty when he was unable to resume after half-time, having felt his hamstring; Aaron Wan-Bissaka came on and Dalot switched to left-back. Ten Hag has bemoaned his selection problems at the back, in particular. He has lacked a consistent base from which to build.

United had to find something and it was Wan-Bissaka who nearly did, cutting back smartly from the byline for Bruno Fernandes, who blazed high from the edge of the area. The Old Trafford crowd stirred and it was impossible to ignore Tuchel raging on the touchline at his players. He could feel that they were lacking full focus. Which was both understandable and unacceptable.

United stepped higher at the start of the second half and there was another whiff of a chance for Fernandes 25 yards out. He dragged wide. The news of Copenhagen’s goal in the 58th minute was a mood killer but United had to concentrate on what they could influence. As the second half ticked along, it felt as though there could be something there for them and they might need only one moment. The same thing, though, held true for Bayern.

- Guardian

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