Manchester United will not be playing European football after Christmas, as the Red Devils finished rock bottom of their group and failed to qualify for 2023/24.
On Tuesday night at Old Trafford, a 1-0 defeat to Bayern Munich condemned United to their horrible fate. There is no shame in a narrow loss to the 11-in-a-row Bundesliga champions. There is however quite a degree of shame in finishing dead last in a group padded out by Galatasaray and FC Copenhagen. Owing to the loss to Bayern, United finished with only 4 points from a possible 18 - their lowest ever points total in a Champions League group stage. They also conceded more goals (15) than any Premier League team has ever conceded in the group stage of the competition’s history.
Erik ten Hag can lament the individual errors that cost United their progress to the last round but despite his comments to the contrary, there were very few moments when his side looked anything other than pitiful in this Champions League campaign. What have we learned from the match where Bayern Munich dealt the final blow to United’s European aspirations for 2023/24?
Here are 3 takeaways from the mid-week loss.