Boss: We Must Do Better

Sir Alex Ferguson admitted United must improve after suffering a deserved defeat to Bayern Munich.

Although Wayne Rooney gave the English champions a second-minute lead at the Allianz Arena, the visitors were under sustained pressure from their German hosts, even before Franck Ribery's deflected free-kick and a last-gasp winner from Ivica Olic turned the game on its head.

The United boss said that his players were not good enough on the night and in part caused their own downfall.

“We didn’t do well enough, simple as that,” said Sir Alex. “Possession has been an important part of our game over the last few years but we just kept giving the ball away and we caused our own defeat really.

"It’s a disappointing performance, possession-wise.”

While critical of his own team, the boss rightly praised the opposition, saying they fully merited the win.

“Bayern were the better team, we can’t complain about that. You have to give them credit, they pressed the ball well. It was a big effort by them in that respect.

“Nonetheless we should be better than that in possession of the ball. We just kept giving it away and it was our downfall.”

Bayern’s first goal came courtesy of a deflected free-kick. The United boss admitted that it was a bit of a lucky break, but with the tide turning in the hosts' favour it was perhaps deserved.


“The first goal was a bit of luck with a deflection. These things can happen. Sometimes you get a break and they got that break. The last goal, I don’t know how to describe. It was a terrible blow to us.”

Despite the defeat, Sir Alex vowed that fans will see the real United in the return leg next Wednesday and remains confident that his players are good enough to overturn the deficit and progress to the semi-finals.

“At Old Trafford it’ll be a different game. We’ll be much better, there’s no question about that. We won’t be giving the ball away the way we did tonight and hopefully we’ll recover.

“We’ve got an away goal which is an advantage but we’ll go out to win the game, that’s the important thing.”