Manchester United 1-1 Bayern Munich: Welbeck causes problems upfront but Bayern attack down the right
The starting line-ups
Bayern started as overwhelming favourites and dominated for the majority of the game, but Manchester United caused problems and weren't flattered by a draw.
David Moyes had both first-choice full-backs out, so Phil Jones and Alexander Buttner played in those positions. Further forward, Moyes picked Ryan Giggs after his excellent game against Olympiakos in the previous round. Juan Mata is cup-tied.
Pep Guardiola was without Dante so Javi Martinez played at the back. Mario Gotze was only on the bench, as was Mario Mandzukic – Thomas Muller led the line.
Bayern had lots of possession, but didn't create better goalscoring opportunities than Manchester United.
Bayern dominance
Bayern's possession dominance throughout this game was widely expected, with Manchester United always likely to be forced back and allowed only sporadic counter-attacking opportunities. It's difficult for opponents to play any other way against Bayern, and the pattern of the game wasn't hugely surprising.
United tried to pack the centre of midfield, using Michael Carrick as the deepest of the three central midfielders, Marouane Fellaini to his right, and Giggs tucked in on the left – although sometimes having to drift out wider. Wayne Rooney dropped back and half-heartedly picked up Philipp Lahm, ensuring United weren't completely overrun.
Nevertheless, it's difficult to explain precisely why Bayern were so poor at converting their dominance into genuine chances. Guardiola complained, after the game, that it's difficult to make the breakthrough against opponents that sit with multiple players crowded around their own box. "It's not easy when you want to control the game and there are nine players in the box, eight, nine players there," he said. "So it's not easy. But we controlled the game."
But this was rarely the case – Rooney and Danny Welbeck usually stayed in advanced positions, and United's defensive shape wasn't actually that good.
United often left too much space between the lines, for example, with Carrick slow to close down opponents who found room in that zone. It felt like the use of Toni Kroos and Bastian Schweinsteiger together was unnecessary against a side that wasn't attempting to compete in terms of possession, and the dribbling skills of Mario Gotze might have been more useful in the circumstances. Kroos and Schweinsteiger often had space to move forward in possession, but instead switched the ball to the flanks.
That was understandable in theory, considering Jones and Buttner were at full-back – but they coped well with Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben respectively, when the wingers stayed out on the flanks. In fact, United were actually more troubled when they drifted inside into more central positions, sometimes combining with one another. This was partly because they were providing the directness between the lines Kroos and Schweinsteiger seemed reluctant to contribute.
Welbeck
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