I will leave you with Tom Garry’s match report. Thanks for reading and good night.
“We can give everything in the City game and the Bayern game,” adds Skinner. “If you do that you can have no regrets. I want my players to have no regrets … Let’s bring on the challenge. Win, lose or draw, we’re in it … we can create magic. We have to be ready to go. If this doesn’t fire you up and give you taste, you’re not human. I ask my humans to feel it tonight, and bring it again next week.”
Manchester United have it all to do in Germany next week after succumbing to a 3-2 first-leg loss to a Bayern Munich team inspired by Pernille Harder, who scored twice.
The away supporters were singing ‘football’s coming home’ by the end, with their team now strong favourites for a semi-final spot after a night when the home side never quite showed their full potential.
Marc Skinner has a chat: “Maya’s super honest. She’s an incredible footballer. The two Pernille Harder goals from our perspective were not good enough. That’s something we’ll fix as a team. The encouraging thing is, it’s 3-2. It’s still alive, this tie …
“Bayern haven’t played like that. It was super direct from them. I think the goals we conceded were pretty poor, but that’s something really easily fixed.
“There’s loads of positives. The possession was really good until the final decision. We should have used the sides quicker … when we broke the lines we needed to be a but more incisive with the pass.
“I felt we could have created more goal-scoring threat. Now we know what we’re playing against we go into the next leg with a fantastic opportunity to move forward.”
“Good things and bad,” says Le Tissier, who scored one and created the other for United. “We got pulled apart a bit, we weren’t as compact as we should have been … in possession we had some good phases. There’s a lot of positives we can take away.
“The first one was down to me. One of their players ran off my back shoulder … I could have done better on that one. The second one, they have so many good rotations … it came down to the rotations in the middle. The third goal, someone should have closed that down.
“I think I was involved too much. Glad to help the team but I think I should stick to my main part, defending, and get better at that as well.”
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It was Tanikawa who started the move for the third goal, too, spraying a superb pass out to the wing for Kett, then following the play and applying a world-class finish. That was textbook.
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An entertaining affair: but the overall emotion for Manchester United will be frustration, after they hauled themselves level twice.
Pernille Harder was lethal for the visitors, with a goal in each half, but the sheer quality of Momoko Tanikawa’s effort was worthy of winning any game of association football.
Full-time: Manchester United 2-3 Bayern Munich
Bayern take a one-goal lead back to Germany.
90 min: We will have three minutes added, minimum.
It was Tanikawa’s astute pass that set up Harder for Bayern’s second goal, too. What an impact the Japan international has had off the bench, with only half an hour or so to work with.
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The away fans are singing ‘football’s coming home’, or rather, ‘fussball’s coming home’. That’s not something you hear in club games every week...
Kett cuts the ball back for Tanikawa – who played in the Women’s Asian Cup final in Sydney at the weekend, by the way – and the Japan international’s first touch is class, allowing for an even better second: a rasping low shot sidefooted into the bottom corner. That was brilliant.
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Goal! 84 min: Manchester United 2-3 Bayern Munich (Tanikawa)
What a fantastic finish.
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82 min: Over 7,000 fans are at Old Trafford this evening. They will hope for more against Manchester City at the weekend in the WSL.
81 min: Jayde Riviere strikes a good cross from out wide. Can the United substitutes make a decisive impact?
80 min: Malard looks for Park who is still a bundle of energy on the right wing. Kett does well to intercept and clear for a throw.
Just the tonic for United. Hanna Lundkist is strongest in the six-yard box and nods in a header from close range. An excellent delivery by Le Tissier, who scored the opener from the penalty spot. Taking a 2-2 draw to Germany would be decent, particularly having fallen behind twice.
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Goal! 76 min: Manchester United 2-2 Bayern Munich (Lundkvist)
Brilliant corner by Le Tissier and great header by Lundkvist!
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75 min: Schuller and Miyazawa off for United. Awujo and Riviere on.
74 min: Worrying signs for United again as Dallman hits a powerful shot from inside the area. Le Tissier blocks it and it flies upwards, with Tullis-Joyce hesitating to clear the danger.
It’s Tanikawa, not long on the pitch, who plays a superb pass for Harder from the left flank, splitting the home defence at one stroke. The Denmark international strides clear and confidently strokes her finish past Tullis-Joyce when one-on-one. Once Harder was clear of the defensive cover there only looked one outcome: she’s such a natural and clinical finisher.
Goal! 71 min: Manchester United 1-2 Bayern Munich (Harder)
Oh! That’s another for Harder.
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70 min: By the way, it was Bayern Munich’s Carolin Simon who was withdrawn for Momoko Tanikawa a few minutes ago.
67 min: A cheeky back-heel by Dallman for Tanikawa in the right full-back position for Bayern. The commentators are suggesting that neither side is willing to risk too much with the tie finely balanced at 1-1. Seems fair.
66 min: Schuller darts down the right wing. She beats one defender but then the ball is nicked off her toes. The former Bayern player then cracks a joke with one of the defenders, until very recently one of her teammates.
65 min: United look to break quickly from a corner. “On the transition,” I believe they call it these days. Miyazawa tries to release Park, who doesn’t lack pace, but the ball is easily dealt with by the Bayern defenders.
The Manchester City head coach Andrée Jeglertz is here in the stands, watching his team’s upcoming opponents before Saturday’s derby. For domestic games, not playing in Europe has undeniably been an advantage for Manchester City this season, as they can rest during weeks like this one, before a key game such as Saturday’s.
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61 min: Dallmann hits an ambitious volley, meeting a cross from the Bayern left. It’s high over the bar.
60 min: We’ve not yet seen a goal as good as those scored by Chloe Kelly, Alessia Russo and Lauren James last night. But there is time …
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59 min: Malard pulls off a quality turn on the left wing which delights the crowd. But nothing comes of the resulting foray into Bayern territory.
57 min: A classy passing move allows Gwinn to find space to curl over a cross for Bayern. United half-clear – but Harder soon has a chance to shoot from the edge of the area. It’s straight at Tullis-Joyce.
55 min: United are pressing Bayern back, showing plenty of energy to stop their visitors from settling on the ball. That said, Stanway slides a handsome pass to Harder, who in turn looks for an on-rushing Dallman. But United manage to snuff out the danger.
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52 min: Zigiotti Olme bursts clear on the right for the hosts. She powers into the box but her delivery is not the best. Malard is able to get a speculative shot away but it doesn’t trouble Mahmutovic in the Bayern goal.
50 min: Turner concedes a free-kick on halfway. The pace is less frenetic than the first half. How much will Skinner and his players risk in looking to take a lead to Germany?
47 min: Rolfo’s first corner is not the best but the good news is, it’s deflected out for a second attempt. Mahmutovic claims the second effort comfortably under her crossbar. There could have been more pressure on the goalie there.
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Second-half kick-off!
We go again. United win an early corner.
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After their terrible start, United have settled pretty well and deserve credit for getting back into the game. It feels quite evenly poised at the moment but, if I was Marc Skinner, I’d be alarmed at how many problems Bayern are causing from set-pieces. Don’t forget United had the best defensive record in the competition during the league phase.
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Half-time: Manchester United Women 1-1 Bayern Munich
Honours even at the interval. Here’s some half-time reading for your perusal:
45 min: Huge let-off for United! Gilles nods the ball back from the far post after the corner, and it falls to Kakounan, who blazes a first-time shot over the crossbar from close range.
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43 min: Kakounan battles with Rolfo near a corner flag. She does well to keep the ball alive. Bayern eventually win a corner. Can they burst United’s bubble again before half-time?
41 min: Now Malard thumps a brilliant curling cross over from the left wing. Schuller heads it but can’t keep the effort down, or on target.
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40 min: Schuller gets a sight of goal and cracks a diagonal shot that never looks likely to trouble Mahmutovic. Schuller had options in the middle there and probably should have crossed it. Malard, one of those options, throws her hands up to protest.
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39 min: There are two balls on the pitch. It turns out this is not a Uefa innovation. The referee, Olatz Rivera Olmedo, stops the game to allow the removal of one of them.
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38 min: Park makes another driving run on the United right. Kett executes a fine sliding challenge to dispossess her.
36 min: Harder tries to burst on to a cross from the right wing. Le Tissier defends it extremely well and clears for a corner. From the set-piece, clearly a training-ground move, Viggosdottir volleys over from the near post.
35 min: Kakounan threatens down the Bayern right. The Manchester United defence holds firm. Miyazawa of Manchester United and Japan, who trained yesterday after flying back from Australia and the Women’s Asian Cup, is showing few ill effects of her recent full-on schedule but surely she won’t play the full 90.
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32 min: Malard hits a good low shot from 25 yards after a smart passing move by United. It’s dealt with easily enough by Mahmutovic.
30 min: From their left wing, Simon floats a cross into the danger zone for Bayern. Rolfo heads clear. Stanway then shows her passing range in midfield for the visitors. At the moment, it’s a close tactical battle in midfield and neither team are creating chances easily.
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29 min: Harder and Stanway look to link up, bearing down on United’s defence in a central area. Harder tries to slide a ball to her teammate but it’s intercepted.
28 min: Park is playing superbly. She embarks on a fine run down the United right and is hacked down by Simon. Simon goes in the book.
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25 min: It was a horrid start for the hosts but they’ve rallied impressively, getting a foothold in the game and deservedly levelling at 1-1. Now can they create an advantage to take to Munich next week?
It is a good attacking move down the right from United, started by Park. Le Tissier takes a few deep breaths and steps up to hammer a right-footed penalty past Mahmutovic. Her celebrations suggest she is doubly happy, having possibly been at fault for the early goal for Bayern.
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Goal! 23 min: Manchester United 1-1 Bayern Munich (Le Tissier)
All square!
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21 min: United break down the left with Schuller. Viggosdottir is penalised for handball! Penalty!
20 min: A useful set-piece for Bayern, a free-kick from their left wing just outside the area. Giulia Gwinn bends it in but it’s overhit and goes out for a goal-kick, partly thanks to some defensive shepherding by Malard.
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19 min: Millie Turner tries to pass back to Tullis-Joyce. It’s wide of the keeper though and goes out for a Bayern corner. That was a nervy moment, both the errant back pass and the fact it might even have rolled in the net.
17 min: Jess Park hits a powerful shot when the ball breaks to her from the corner. It’s blocked, and another effort by Zigiotti Olme goes sailing over the crossbar.
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16 min: Schuller makes a bright burst down the United left. She cuts a good-looking cross back for Malard, but it’s cut out for a corner.
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15 min: “We need to offer structure, positioning and control,” said the Bayern Munich manager, Barcala, before kick-off. And that’s precisely what they are doing. Their defensive shape when out of possession is very impressive, the front six snap back into their positions seemingly automatically.
11 min: It’s all a bit scrappy – but United will probably take that if it means breaking up Bayern’s fluent attacking and keeping the pressure off. The midfielder Zigiotti Olme coughs up a free-kick near halfway.
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8 min: Bayern threaten again. Harder gets a ball to feet in the area and then tees up a chance for Kett. Gwinn gets a chance too, the ball bobbling around near the hosts’ goal, but United finally manage to clear. Marc Skinner’s team are wobbling badly.
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There are around 100 Bayern fans to my right currently going wild in the away section. What a start for them. And from a defensive point of view for Manchester United, what an easy goal to concede.
Harder, the former Chelsea forward, chases a long ball from the right-back position in behind. Maya Le Tisser is in attendance but cannot deal with it. Harder gets the ball under control and slots a fine finish in the corner, no chance for Phallon Tullis-Joyce in goal. A horrible start for the hosts.
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Goal! 2 min: Manchester United 0-1 Bayern Munich (Harder)
Wow! The worst possible start for Manchester United Women.
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First-half kick-off!
Here we go.
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Lea Schuller, in case you didn’t know, joined United from Bayern in January. Inside knowledge.
Marc Skinner, in his pre-match chat, said Schuller’s knowledge of Bayern’s game could be an advantage.
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This is Bayern Munich’s eighth quarter-final in the competition. But they’ve never made it past the semi-finals, mind you.
Here we are then. The teams are lined up in the tunnel and it’s nearly go-time.
Three sides of this stadium are empty, while one is jam-packed and bustling. Unfortunately, the television cameras are pointing towards the three empty stands. It’s a disappointing turnout, that’s for sure. But higher ticket sales are expected for Saturday’s WSL Manchester derby, back here on the same ground in just a few days’ time, so perhaps that’s the game the home fans have prioritised.
And now José Barcala, the Bayern Munich head coach, speaks:
“Pernille Harder is really important. A playmaker. For us it’s so important to have good positional play. She understands positioning better than anyone else and she is so clinical.
“Manchester United has the quality, the individual quality to punish you in transitions. They need a team that is disorganised and they can punish you when are not in the right position. We need to offer structure, positioning and control. Then probably, we have probabilities to get the game.”
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Marc Skinner has a chat with Disney+:
“I’m really excited. We’re at a fantastic arena. We’ve created history, I want to see us express ourselves, just express who we are, and it’ll be an exciting game I’m sure.
“Lea Schuller will be important and hopefully knowing how they play with be an advantage … we have to be at our best. We are looking forward to the challenge.
“[It will be about] Riding the moments, momentum. They will create, we will create. I think it’s respecting, but not being in fear or in awe of them. We’re not here by luck. We are here by hard work, graft and commitment.”
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Some of us are old enough to remember Manchester United men beating Bayern Munich in 1999:
Full-time: Real Madrid Women 2-6 Barcelona Women
Les jeux sont faits. A thumping win for Barça against their traditional/perennial/bitter (delete as applicable) rivals.
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Sonia Bompastor, the Chelsea head coach, said the women’s game needs to be shown “more respect” after the decision to rule out Veerle Buurman’s goal in the first half of the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final was not overturned by the video assistant referee.
Buurman leapt and nodded in and looked to have halved the hosts’ lead, but the referee, Alina Pesu, immediately ruled out the effort for a perceived foul on Laia Codina and the VAR did not deem it a clear and obvious error.
Now a penalty for Barça with the clock on 88min …
And that’s 6-2. Alexia Putellas with a Diego Maradona-style penalty, waiting for the keeper to move, and dispatching the ball safely into the opposite corner.
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For Manchester United there are two changes: Lea Schuller comes in for Elisabeth Terland while Hinata Miyazawa, having just returned from playing in Japan’s Women’s Asian Cup final win against Australia on Saturday, replaces Simi Awujo.
Bayern Munich Women are unchanged from the 5-0 win against Essen on Saturday with Georgia Stanway, formerly of Manchester City, lining up as one of two defensive midfielders in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
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It’s raining goals in Spain. It’s Real Madrid 2-5 Barcelona now.
Linda Caicedo just scored her second of the night for Madrid, and it was a belter, arrowed into the top corner from the edge of the box after a driving run at a backpedalling Barcelona defence.
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The local weather has provided a proper ‘welcome to Manchester’ for the Bayern Munich players today, with not only a chilling, blustery wind and frequent heavy showers but even a sudden burst of hail, which pounded on to the top of my car like pebbles a couple of hours ago as I was driving along the M56 towards the stadium. There is a freezing-cold feel in the air and rumours of an overnight frost on the way. So it will feel like this game is being played in January rather than late March, and you wonder whether that can benefit the hosts. Everyone in the stands has their hat, their scarves and their gloves back on again.
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I’ll expand on those teams shortly, but now, an update from our intrepid reporter at Old Trafford …
Teams
Manchester United Women (4-3-3): Tullis-Joyce; Lundkvist, Le Tissier, Turner, Rolfo; Zigiotti Olme, Miyazawa, Naalsund; Park, Schuller, Malard. Substitutes: Rendell, Middleton-Patel, George, Terland, Awujo, Riviere, Anderson.
Bayern Munich Women (4-2-3-1): Mahmutovic; Gwinn, Viggosdottir, Gilles, Simon; Stanway, Kakounan; Dallmann, Caruso, Kett; Harder. Substitutes: Grohs, Ballisager, Eriksson, Tanikawa, Bidas, Dunst, Imade, Zahringer, Kreuzpaintner.
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Real Madrid 1-4 Barcelona is a latest score in tonight’s earlier kick-off.
That’s ONE-FOUR to Barça. Remarkable.
Ewa Pajor (two), Esmee Brugts and Irene Paredes have scored the goals for Barcelona. One or two more and they’ve put the tie to bed before the second leg.
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It is no exaggeration to describe the next seven days as the most significant week of fixtures in the history of the Manchester United women’s team, as they contest their first European quarter-final with a crucial derby in between.
Debutants in the Champions League main draw, Marc Skinner’s side now have three box-office matches in huge arenas, starting with the first leg of their quarter‑final against Bayern Munich on Wednesday at Old Trafford, as the runaway Frauen‑Bundesliga leaders arrive in England hoping to illustrate their own European title credentials. The stage is set for a thriller.
Preamble
On their debut in the main draw of the Women’s Champions League Manchester United Women now find themselves facing one of the juggernauts of European football. It doesn’t get much tougher than a two-legged quarter-final encounter against Bayern Munich: but the manager Marc Skinner and his players are up for it.
“We have to be ready to make history,” Skinner said. “We challenge ourselves every day in training to be the team that competes in quarter-finals – and then hopefully a semi-final after that. We know the respect we have between Bayern Munich and Manchester United as two clubs – but when we go on to the field it’ll be the winner takes all. We have to manage both ties, show our maturity, but the challenge of it is fantastic … the energy around these games just hits differently.”
Skinner’s side defeated Paris Saint-Germain in the league phase and have kept eight clean sheets in 12 matches in the tournament, including qualifying rounds, so Bayern and the former Chelsea forward, Pernille Harder, will not underestimate the task ahead. United finished sixth in the league phase, progressing to the last eight with a resounding 5-0 aggregate win against Atlético Madrid Women in their playoff. Tonight’s first leg, and the second at the Allianz Arena in Munich next Wednesday, will be their biggest test yet.
Kick-off: 8pm UK time
