4 terrible records broken and set by Manchester United in their disgraceful Champions League exit
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Manchester United set some unwanted records in their terrible UCL campaign

4 terrible records broken and set by Manchester United in their disgraceful Champions League exit

Tunde Young 13:31 - 13.12.2023

Manchester United's 2023/24 UEFA Champions League is a record-breaking one but for all the wrong reasons. Here are four of those reasons.

When the 2023/24 UEFA Champions League group stage draws were made back in September, Group A seemed to be the most straightforward with Bayern Munich and Manchester United looking like the obvious qualifiers ahead of Galatasaray and Copenhagen in that order.

While Bayern fulfilled their end of the bargain, finishing top of the group, unbeaten with five wins out of six games, Manchester United massively underperformed.

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A 1-0 defeat at home to Bayern in the last group stage game sealed Manchester United's fate as the worst team in the group but Ten Hag's men had been eliminated long before then although not mathematically.

Picking up just one win in four games against Galatasaray and Copenhagen was the real reason Manchester United got knocked out and set some unwanted records in a Champions League campaign to forget.

Here are four records set and broken by Manchester United after the 1-0 defeat at home to Bayern Munich on Tuesday night.

4  records broken and set by Manchester United in the Champions League 

1. Most goals conceded in the UCL group stage by an English team

Manchester United conceded 15 goals in their six group-stage matches. Yes, you read that right FIFTEEN which means they have the worst defence in the competition this season alongside Royal Antwerp who have also conceded as many goals.

Kingsley Coman scoring for Bayern Munich against Manchester United | Imago

United are not the first English team to finish bottom of a Champions League group but this is the worst outing by any Premier League team in the history of the competition and the stats

The 15 goals conceded by Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League this season, the most ever by a Premier League side in a single group stage in the competition.

2. First English team to finish bottom of a UCL group twice

This is not the first time Manchester United have finished bottom of a Champions League group as it happened back in the 2005/06 season.

Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United finished bottom of a group that had Valencia, Benfica and Lille in that exact order of qualification.

They only managed one win and had a total of six points which was tied with Lille but they missed out on a UEFA Cup (now Europa League) spot on goal difference.

Their failures this season now makes Manchester United the only team from England to finish bottom of a Champions League group on two separate occasions.

3. Repeat offenders

For all of their domestic success, Manchester United have a fair share of European embarrassment as they have only had seven Champions League campaigns since Sir Alex Ferguson left the club in 2013.

They have failed to qualify out of the group stages in three out of those seven Champions League seasons which is as much as they did in 18 previous seasons when Sir Alex was in charge.

Statistically speaking, Manchester United are almost as likely to get knocked out in the group stages as they are to advance to the next round of any given campaign.

4. Whole lotta Ls

Erik Ten Hag's first season as Manchester United boss saw the team lose 12 of their 62 games across all competitions en route to winning the EFL Cup.

Erik Ten Hag wins manager of the month.
Erik Ten Hag has struggled so far this seasoh. (Photo Credit: BR Football/X)

They have already matched the 12 losses this season though which is a ver worrying statistic as Manchester United have only played 24 games in all competitions so far.

That means Ten Hag's team have literally lost half of the games they have played this season, a perfect indication of the regression from last season.

Seven losses in 16 Premier League games in addition to the four defeats in the Champions League group stage and the 3-0 thrashing against Newcastle in the EFL Cup make up the total of 12.

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