Alex Keble looks at the key talking points as Premier League clubs start the 2023/24 UEFA Champions League group stage.
Bayern Munich v Manchester United
Kick-off: Wednesday 20 Sep, 20:00 BST
Bayern's last result: Drew 2-2 with Bayer Leverkusen
Bayern's league position: 2nd
Wednesday’s opener at Bayern Munich marks the completion of Erik ten Hag’s first-year objective as Manchester United manager. But only a few weeks into the difficult second season, he takes United back into the Champions League under growing pressure.
Man Utd have lost three of their first five Premier League matches for the first time in their history, and that record could easily have been worse. There is unanimous agreement they were outplayed by Wolverhampton Wanderers on the opening day, only to scrape a 1-0 win, and they had to come back from 2-0 down to beat Nottingham Forest.
Preparation for the Champions League curtain raiser – and the toughest fixture in the group at that – could hardly have been worse, somewhat taking the sheen off Ten Hag’s achievement in 2022/23.
Bayern have enjoyed a more comfortable beginning to their first full season under Thomas Tuchel. Despite drawing 2-2 with Bayer Leverkusen at the weekend, they will be feeling confident – especially with Harry Kane leading the line against an English opponent he knows very well.
Kane scored four goals and produced three assists across his last 10 appearances against United for Tottenham Hotspur.
In an alternate reality Kane is lining up for Man Utd this week, but in ours the club never quite found the money, or the right time, to land England’s all-time record goalscorer.
Kane was once the fastest player in Champions League history to reach 20 goals, doing so in 24 appearances, before Erling Haaland smashed that record in 14. Kane has netted 21 in 32 to date.
A chance for Hojlund to shine
Instead United could start Rasmus Hojlund, a young man set to make his Champions League debut.
Athough Hojlund is inexperienced when compared to his counterpart, Ten Hag has backed his striker to shine when asked about the two forwards in his pre-match press conference.
"We are happy with Rasmus," Ten Hag said. "Obviously, in the first games, he was injured. He played against Arsenal and now he has had his first start."
"So now, of course, we have to integrate him into the team but you can see he is a big talent and he will contribute to our game. We are quite confident about that."
That contrast between their respective No 9s is symbolic of the wider gulf between the two European super-powers though. Bayern won the competition in 2019/20 and have reached the quarter-finals every year since; United were absent last season and have made the final eight only once in the last nine years.
But that does not necessarily make Bayern heavy favourites here, even with their contrasting domestic form this season. The tactical battle is a little more interesting than that.
Reverting to old tactics
United’s best performance of the season so far was against Arsenal, when Ten Hag temporarily dropped his high-pressing instructions and the team became instantly more together. Sitting off, they returned to the more conservative – and compact – team we often saw in 2022/23.
Presumably, Ten Hag will do the same in Munich, showing humility in an intimidating venue and consequently ensuring his team have more opportunities to enact their rapid counter-attacks.
Assuming Ten Hag abandons the diamond 4-4-2 that didn’t work against Brighton & Hove Albion (the quality of Bayern’s wingers and overlapping full-backs surely necessitates that) then we might see Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho bursting clear on the break.
That will be the United hope, at least, ahead of an extremely challenging fixture at a time of growing restlessness in Manchester.
Tuchel, two-time finalist and winner with Chelsea in 2021, will expect to overwhelm United’s central midfield problem, taking advantage of hesitancy or low morale much in the way Brighton did last weekend.
See: Premier League weekend review
That remains the most likely outcome, especially considering United are yet to win an away match against a "Big Six" opponent under Ten Hag.
Wednesday was supposed to signal Man Utd’s arrival back among the elite. Instead, it could serve to highlight just how large the gap remains.
Also in this series
Part 1: Can Arsenal avoid another European upset as they rejoin elite?
