MOTD- Bayern Munich 3-1 Manchester United

By on April 9, 2014

For seventy seconds, David Moyes was a footballing genius.  For seventy seconds, Manchester United were on top of the world.  For seventy seconds, Manchester United were a European superpower once-more.  For seventy seconds, right after Patrice Evra put United up over Bayern Munich, Manchester United were in position to advance to the Champions League semifinals with what would have been a win for the history books over the German, European, and world champions.   But then, after seventy seconds of bliss for Red Devils across the world, Bayern harshly brought United back down the earth.  Mario Mandžukić scored a lighting quick equalizer just seventy-one seconds after Evra’s goal, and with two more goals in the sixty-seventh and seventy-sixth minute, Bayern had put to be any realistic hopes of United reaching the semifinals.  There were seventy seconds of hope for United, but in the end it would have perhaps been less heartbreaking if there had been no hope at all, as was expected, for Moyes’ side.

The visitors at the Allianz Arena worked so hard to even get in the position they found themselves after Evra’s goal, but it all unravelled far to fast for Moyes to do anything about it. For fifty-seven minutes they had contained arguably the best side in the world in Pep Guardiola’s Bayern, and the home side were by no means laying it lightly in United. Bayern kept a little over 64% possession over the entire ninety minutes, and undoubtedly had an even bigger tally in the opening half hour.

Guardiola’s side were in total control in the first encounters, and Franck Ribéry was the first to threaten United’s goal when he slammed a volley into the ground and wide left of the frame in the sixth minute. Arjen Robben then flashed a fifteen yard effort just wide as he was running away from goal down the right side of the box, but Bayern were having trouble breaking through the wall of United defenders stationed inside their own box. Often times Wayne Rooney was the only United player outside his own box, yet United also caused troubles for Bayern on the counter-attack. In fact, Antonio Valencia thought he had put United in front a quarter hour in, but turned our to be offside as he tapped Rooney’s cross from the left into the back of the net. Still, it was a welcoming sign for a United side that were withholding quite the Bayern storm.

Ribéry sent a dipping effort from twenty yards out into the side netting after cutting in from the left, before Toni Kroos sent a first time curler just over the crossbar as Bayern continued probing.  However, the Bavarians were beginning to get frustrated, with United keeping the score level into halftime.  And Moyes’ side only came out stronger at the start of the second period.

Shinji Kagawa smacked a fizzing effort from twenty-five yards out into the hands of Manuel Neuer in the fifty-fourth minute, but just three minutes later United took a shocking lead.  Evra latched onto a low cross from the right on the edge of the box, where he sliced an incredible half-volley into the back of the net off the crossbar.  For the following seventy seconds, the away fans at the Allianz Arena were belting their hearts out.  For seventy seconds it seemed as if they would win the tie.  But seventy-one seconds later Mario Mandzukic dented the dream.  He stretched out to reach a cross from the left, and flicked a diving header into the bottom corner at the far post.  Ten minutes later Bayern gave United a further punch to the gut as Robben curled a low cross in from the right, which Thomas Müller poked into the bottom left corner at the near post.

And in the seventy-fifth minute, Bayern finished United off.  Robben cut in from the right and ventured down the edge of the eighteen yard box, before finally tucking a low shot into the bottom left corner off the leg of Vidic.  United had no choice but to throw in the kitchen sink, and although both Javier Hernandez and Adnan Januzaj came on in the final few minutes for Darren Fletcher and Danny Welbeck, respectively, it was to little to late.  There would be no dream finale of the likes of the 1999 Champions League final.  Bayern made the comeback win this time.
Man of the Match: Arjen Robben

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.