As the final whistle blew on Manchester United’s European campaign, the cast list on the pitch included Jonny Evans, Kobbie Mainoo, Facundo Pellestri and Hannibal Mejbri. One represents the past, another may be the future, two are likely to be footnotes in any account of United. The understudies – in some cases, the unknowns – representing a club who have spent £400m in 18 months, some £1.5bn in 11 years since Sir Alex Ferguson retired were the unwitting indications of how plans went awry. They ended up beaten by Bayern Munich with the kind of line-up likelier to be found in a pre-season friendly.
In different ways, it had gone wrong for their supposed superiors. Marcus Rashford’s Champions League season was curtailed early: United were 2-0 up against FC Copenhagen, looking likely to qualify when his accidental stamp on Elias Jelert brought a sending off then a suspension, before illness ruled him out of the Bayern match. For Casemiro, too, his final contribution was a red card, sent off in the second game against Galatasaray, the victim of one of Andre Onana’s blunders, banned and then injured thereafter. So much for the idea a multiple Champions League winner could have the same effect at Old Trafford. His sidekick in success at Real Madrid, Raphael Varane was an unused substitute when United conceded three goals in Istanbul to take their destiny out of their own hands.
