Manchester United vs Bayern Munich Preview

After their humiliating defeat in the Premier League, Manchester United will look to avoid another home defeat this Tuesday when they welcome Bayern Munich to Old Trafford for the last group stage game of the 2023/24 Champions League season.

The Red Devils come into this tie with the worst possible damage done to their confidence having been battered by Bournemouth at home in a 3-0 loss over the weekend. The nature of the loss would have been particularly infuriating for United fans who saw their team really fail to trouble Bournemouth. Indeed, United could have lost by a wider margin if not for poor finishing by Bournemouth and some smart stops by Andre Onana.

With their confidence down, they will hope to bounce back here, although their fate of progressing in this competition is out of their hands after a miserable group stage campaign so far (W1, D1, L3). To stand a chance of playing in the knockout stages, the Red Devils must beat already-qualified Bayern Munich while also hoping that Group A’s other game between Copenhagen and Galatasaray ends level.

That looks like a tall order, given they have suffered three defeats by a 3-0 scoreline in three out of five outings at Old Trafford, and they’ve conceded 3+ goals in four of their five UCL group games.

Meanwhile, Bayern Munich are also nursing a wound to their confidence having been beaten by Eintracht Frankfurt in a 5-1 away defeat last Saturday. The defeat saw them fall further behind in the Bundesliga title race.

Although they do not particularly need a win here given they have already qualified as group winners. However, they have a record to extend here, with the Bavarians being able to extend their incredible competition record, a 39-match unbeaten run in the UCL group stages (W35, D4) with a good result here. They had won 17 successive group matches before a 0-0 draw with Copenhagen last time out, and another failure to win would mark their first two-match winless run in the groups in 14 years.