Manchester United booed off in new low – and how former players reacted to humiliation

United mocked by visitors, booed by fans

Manchester United were booed off after crashing out of the Champions League with barely a whimper as the crisis engulfing the club deepened on another forgettable night for Erik ten Hag.

Kingsley Coman’s 70th minute goal from Harry Kane’s pass earned Bayern Munich a 1-0 win at Old Trafford as United finished bottom of Group A with four defeats in six matches.

This was only United’s seventh Champions League campaign in the 11 seasons since Sir Alex Ferguson retired over a decade ago and the third time they have failed to get out of the group.

There will not even be the consolation prize of a Europa League spot while the 15 goals United conceded is the most by an English club in the history of the Champions League group stage.

Short of Newcastle suffering a double-figure hammering at home to AC Milan on Wednesday night, that will forever remain the case with the competition’s format changing from next season.

United managed just a single shot on target and were booed off at the end by angry fans while their Bayern counterparts goaded them with chants of “Auf Wiedersehen”, “Football’s Coming Home” and “You’re f------ s---”. Former United players, too, were critical of another poor showing.

And the club’s exit was compounded by injuries to Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw that deepened their defensive crisis before Sunday’s trip to face Liverpool at Anfield, where they lost 7-0 last season.

Ten Hag: ‘Now we can focus on the Premier League’

Copenhagen qualified from Group A alongside Bayern after beating Galatasaray 1-0 in the Danish capital. But Ten Hag was reluctant to dwell on United being beaten to second spot by a club whose annual revenues are almost 25 times smaller.

“I look to my team and we had I think the opportunities in games where we were in winning positions,” said Ten Hag, ruing the leads United surrendered in their 4-3 defeat by Copenhagen and 3-3 draw against Galatasaray.

“We scored many goals but then also you have to see we gave it away sometimes by individual errors – by not one player but by more players, not every time the same.

“They give the opponent opportunities to turn. We also had very good spells in games but we have to do better. The facts are we do not have enough points, we are disappointed as a group. As a manager, I am disappointed. We should have done better.

“There are still many things to play for and now we can focus on the Premier League.

“This is the level we want to play, Champions League, so we have to give every effort to be in the top four and next year be back in the Champions League. Then, of course, we have the FA Cup, so there are so many things to play for [still].”

Tuchel: ‘United lack personality and width on the bench’

Thomas Tuchel, the Bayern coach, expressed his sympathy for Ten Hag and admitted such moments could be “lonely” for a manager.

“It is not an easy time but I am pretty sure he knows what to do next and he does not need my advice or clapping on the shoulders, he is experienced enough to go through it,” Tuchel said. “I had not a nice moment last Saturday [a 5-1 defeat by Eintracht Frankfurt] and sometimes you feel pretty lonely as a coach.

“Almost always I feel sympathy for the other coach but we try everything to win matches, these are the goals of high level sports but of course I have sympathy. He has a lot of key players injured for a decisive match, they lack the personality and maybe the width to change games from the bench.

“This is a huge club and not what you expect. In the group you expect also Manchester United challenging for the win of the group and a place in the round of 16 but in my experience I can tell you we had a difficult group.”

How United greats Ferdinand and Scholes reacted

Rio Ferdinand accused Manchester United of playing “kamikaze” and “criminal”.

United icon Ferdinand, who was covering Tuesday night’s match for TNT Sports, said: “You look when that group came out, you would’ve expected Manchester United to go through.

“But to score three goals in each of their away games and come away with the points they did, I think was criminal, really.

“It’s kamikaze football, almost. Basketball football. ‘You attack. We attack. And see who comes out on top’.

“You kind of get what you deserve. If you’re not clinical and you can’t close matches out, you don’t deserve to progress to the knockout stages.”

Ferdinand’s criticism was endorsed by fellow United legend Paul Scholes, who said it had been a “really poor campaign”.

Scholes also branded United’s display against Bayern – in which they produced one shot on target in a match they had to win to stay in Europe – a “frightened performance”.

Ferdinand added: “This is a game they had to lay it all out there. That never quite materialised.

“But if Man United opened up, it could have been three or four against. They would have been picked off by this Bayern team.”

Ferdinand even claimed it would have been worse for United if they had finished third in the group and been parachuted into the Europa League.

“It’s best-case worst-case,” he said. “I’d rather see this team go out of Europe completely and focus on the league.”

Scholes singled out United’s home defeat by Galatasaray as being key in their demise.

“As soon as you lose a home game in the group stages, you’re struggling,” he said. “You’re really fighting. You’re really up against it.

“But after that, in some games they looked really good. They took leads in games, just couldn’t see games out.”