Manchester United are out of Europe as they lost to Bayern Munich in their final Champions League group game on Tuesday.
It is the sixth time the Reds have failed to qualify for the knockout stages and just the second they have finished bottom of the group, the other being in 2005-06, but sadly we’ve experienced a repeat of that this time around.
United qualified for the Champions League after finishing third in the Premier League last season. We were drawn in, what looked to be on paper, a favourable group alongside Bayern Munich, Galatasaray and FC Copenhagen.
It was almost a given at the start of the group that Bayern would finish top place, but we all felt confident enough to fly out to Bavaria where the Reds opened their European campaign with defeat. Another defeat followed in the shape of a catastrophic collapse at Old Trafford against Turkish giants Galatasaray.
Ten Hag’s side issued a minor response in their next European test, though, winning 1-0 at home to Copenhagen. That was our only win in the group stage so the players only have themselves to blame for their own shortcomings.
In Copenhagen, United went back to throwing things away after falling on the wrong side of a seven-goal thriller. No one could have predicted that after Ten Hag’s team took a 2-0 first-half lead via two Rasmus Hojlund goals that Copenhagen would eventually come back into the game and win!
This was when United’s Champions League hopes began to look precarious.
United went on to throw away a two-goal lead in their 3-3 draw with Galatasaray in Istanbul before losing the final group game 1-0 against Bayern Munich.
The current crop of United flops were up against it from the beginning as they lost their opening two matches to Bayern and Galatasaray. A home victory over Copenhagen was quickly outdone by defeat in the reverse fixture and when they squandered a lead in Turkey the luck well ran dry.
It’s a sad end to a European campaign we fought so hard for. An opportunity gone to waste when we thought Ten Hag and his players would put up a challenge to some of Europe’s best teams.
All we can ask is for the players to learn from their mistakes this time around.
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