Gone in 22 seconds. That was Manchester United’s lead in Munich. Less than 10 minutes later they were gone from the Champions League completely, for close to 18 months at least.
To a club in seventh position, leaving Europe’s greatest tournament is not simply a matter of bidding adieu.
It will be September 2015 at best before United pass this way again and who knows what the team, and bench, will look like by then?
Certainly, many of the playing personnel will have changed, but what of the manager? Might this also be David Moyes’ last Champions League match in charge of Manchester United? If so, he went out with more of a whimper than a bang.
United made something of a stand by opening the scoring, but their hold on the advantage was so temporary as to be almost ephemeral.
Blink, and you would have missed it. In all, there were six passes between Patrice Evra’s fantastic shot into the Bayern goal and Mario Mandzukic’s soft header past David de Gea.
Scoring proved almost the worst thing United could have done. In the first half Bayern Munich did not have a shot on target. Once Evra scored they woke up and applied some directness to their play.
There were 17 minutes between 1-1 and 3-1. Job done, Munich hit the snooze button again.
