With Matchday 4 of the 2023-24 Champions League group stage over, several clubs have now booked their place in the round of 16: Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Manchester City, RB Leipzig, Real Madrid and Real Sociedad.
Manchester United have given themselves a tough task after Wednesday’s loss at FC Copenhagen leaves them bottom of their group, Barcelona suffered a shock loss of their own, while Group F could still finish with all four teams — AC Milan, Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle United — on the same number of points.
We asked our writers Gab Marcotti, Rob Dawson, Alex Kirkland and Julien Laurens to answer some of our burning questions.
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1. United have everything to play for against Bayern and Galatasary. What will it take to rescue their campaign in the next two games?
Rob Dawson: It starts with being more organised and defending better. They’ve conceded 11 goals in four games — only Celtic and Antwerp (two teams who are also bottom of their respective groups) have conceded more in the group stage this season — and it’s far too many for any team aiming to qualify for the round of 16. As bizarre as it sounds after a 4-3 defeat, Manchester United’s performance against FC Copenhagen was one of their better displays of the season and they probably would have won but for Marcus Rashford‘s first-half red card. There will be cautious optimism ahead of a must-win game in Turkey against Galatasaray on matchday five and after that they’ll have to hope Bayern Munich rest players for their trip to Old Trafford.
Julien Laurens: Not making stupid individual mistakes would help! From André Onana‘s terrible pass against Galatasaray, which led to Casemiro‘s red card, to Diogo Dalot‘s horrendous defending in Copenhagen or Aaron Wan-Bissaka‘s unnecessary back pass. The fact that United have conceded one penalty in each of their first four games in the competition says it all, really. It shows that they are too generous to the opposition when it comes to Champions League matches.
Alex Kirkland: A new coach and a new set of players? No, seriously, Wednesday’s defeat was a disaster but a look at the table tells you United are still in contention to progress from the group. They’re capable of winning away at Galatasaray and then beating a Bayern side who have already qualified for the round of 16 and might field a weakened team at Old Trafford. But that doesn’t mean alarm bells aren’t ringing. I was watching Real Madrid at the Bernabeu while United were playing, and couldn’t believe the updates coming in from Copenhagen. There’s so much wrong at United that it’s hard to know where to start. But Ten Hag’s position must be under serious scrutiny.
Gab Marcotti: Their biggest problem — and their biggest strength — is that Bayern have qualified as group winners. So while Thomas Tuchel will talk a good game about honoring the competition and trying hard in the final two group games, he’d be silly not to send out the second-string, which means we’ll probably see more of Frans Krätzig and Aleksandar Pavlovic than Harry Kane and Joshua Kimmich in the last two matches. That’ll help United at Old Trafford on Matchday 6. On the flipside, it also helps Copenhagen on Matchday 5. So while you could see United qualifying with eight points, it would also mean it would be out of their hands. Simply put, they need to win in Istanbul. And that’s going to be tricky.
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FRIDAY, NOV. 10 (all times ET)
• Borussia M’bach vs. Wolfsburg (2:30 p.m.)
• Athletic Club vs. Celta Vigo (3 p.m.)
• Blackburn Rovers vs. Preston NE (4 p.m.)
• NCAA: Gonzaga vs. San Diego (10 p.m.)
SATURDAY, NOV. 11 (all times ET)
• Sunderland vs. Birmingham City (8 a.m.)
• Bayern Munich vs. Heidenheim (9 a.m.)
• Almería vs. Real Sociedad (10 a.m.)
• Royal Antwerp vs. Standard Liege (10 a.m.)
• Cardiff City vs. Norwich City (11 a.m.)
• Osasuna vs. Las Palmas (12 p.m.)
• Real Madrid vs. Valencia (3 p.m.)
Kirkland: Real Sociedad. They’ve made their return to the Champions League for the first time in a decade look easy. Last time out, in 2013-14, they didn’t win a single group game. They began the group by dominating last year’s finalists Inter Milan and were unlucky to settle for a draw. They followed that with back-to-back away wins at FC Salzburg and Benfica. And on Wednesday, they scored three goals inside half an hour — and missed a penalty — on their way to beating Benfica 3-1 in San Sebastian to guarantee their place in the round of 16. Imanol Alguacil’s team are packed with homegrown talent and play fun, attacking football. What’s not to like?
Marcotti: Real Sociedad have been the standout team of the group stage, along with Manchester City, the difference being that La Real are doing it on a much slimmer budget. Brais Méndez, Take Kubo, Mikel Oyarzabal give opposing defences fits and, while teams in LaLiga may have figured them out to some degree (which is why they’re seventh in the table,) the same can’t be said in Europe.
Dawson: Borussia Dortmund keep losing key players like Jude Bellingham, Erling Haaland, Manuel Akanji and Jadon Sancho but, after four games in Group F, they’re sat top on seven points. In a group alongside Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan and Newcastle United, not only have they given themselves a great chance of qualifying for the knockout phase for the fifth time in the last six years, they should also be targeting top spot. They were dealt a blow in the Bundesliga on Saturday with a heavy 4-0 defeat to Bayern Munich, but back-to-back wins over Newcastle have put them in control of their Champions League group. To lose so many top players and continue to challenge in Europe is impressive.
