In front of Bayern Munich, where their Champions League destiny is at stake, Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag maintains that his club can defeat “any opponent.”
With four wins from five games thus far, United is at the bottom of Group A. Ten Hag’s team may still very well go to the round of 16, the only need being that they defeat Bayern Munich at home and hope that Copenhagen and Galatasaray draw in the other match.
Regretfully, United enter the crucial encounter at Old Trafford fresh off a miserable 3-0 loss to Bournemouth at home. Ten Hag, though, is deciding to concentrate on the advantages of recent weeks’ stronger showings, like the one against Chelsea a few days ago.
“We have very good performances and highs. We are able to beat any opponent,” Ten Hag said.
“The game against Chelsea, Everton. Even against Galatasaray. This team can perform at really high levels. We have to work about that. It is my responsibility, to improve the team. I will give everything, the team will as well. I can show them the clips from Chelsea.
“If we have a good plan we can beat any opponent.”
In the rematch in Munich again on matchday one, United was only just defeated by Bayern; the German champions prevailed in a thrilling seven-goal thriller thanks to a number of late strikes.
“There were stages in that game when we played very good,” Ten Hag said, looking back. “It was head-to-head for a long time. We suffered some mistakes that were avoidable. When you play against Bayern you have to be at your best. Chelsea also had amazing players, we dominated them.”
The fact that Bayern has already advanced to the next round as group winners and has nothing left to play for may also be encouraging to United.
Their run of consecutive victories in the group stage ended at matchday 17 with a 0-0 draw against Copenhagen, and over the weekend, they were unexpectedly crushed 5-1 by Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga.
That being said, given that Bayern hasn’t lost in the Champions League group stage since 2017, the trip to Manchester may be ideal for a reaction to that unanticipated humiliation.