Manchester United’s late fightback was not enough as Bayern Munich held on to start their Champions League campaign with a narrow victory.
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Manchester United and Bayern Munich kick-started their Group A commitments in the Champions League with a goal fest. The two European giants produced a thriller at the Allianz Arena which eventually finished 4-3 in favour of the German champions. While United did start the game well, they faded away after conceding the opener through an Andre Onana blunder. To the Red Devils’ credit, they kept coming back into the game by regularly scoring goals.
However, Manchester United’s late fightback was not enough as Bayern Munich held on to start their Champions League campaign with a narrow victory. This defeat means United have now lost three games on the bounce in all competitions, with the other two losses coming in the Premier League. While analysing the result after the match, manager Erik ten Hag felt United had to make their own luck.
“I wouldn’t say it is like this [on it being too easy]. We are in a period, a lot is going against us, but we have to make our own luck. When we can’t keep going [like this] and we can’t keep consistent in doing the rules and the principles of our game, then you concede goals. But also [it is] telling that we have played three great teams in the last three games [Arsenal, Brighton & Hove Albion and now Bayern],” ten Hag, quoted by the club’s website, said after the match.
He added: “Every game is important, every game is huge and, as I just said, we have to make our own luck. No-one is going to help you, you see in the first 25 minutes, you have to score a goal, but if not, stay in that game and don’t allow the opponent to score a goal like we did. It is not only about one mistake [by Andre Onana], because also before that, it was too easy for the player [Leroy Sane] to get that shot. You have to be consistent in such a moment and then you will win games.”
The manager also went on to explain how their last three games were against top teams and its up to the team to make their own luck. “What you have seen is a very high level. Against Arsenal, Munich, Brighton. All top, top level teams and we are going head to head but they win. And yeah, then the way they win, we have to make our own luck. And that has to do with with absolute determination. And then we make our own luck. You don’t get it because no-one will win you anything in football,” he added.
Despite Andre Onana making the mistake for the opener, ten Hag is confident he will bounce back. “The football, on the whole, will always be mistakes and this is one mistake [by Onana]. So we also don’t make it bigger than it is. This was not just Andre and then after that, he made, in the second half, great saves for us and he shows his capabilities and abilities and he will bounce back and he is a very important player,” he elaborated.
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