Manchester United still have plenty to play for – Ten Hag

Erik ten Hag admitted Manchester United “should have done better” in the Champions League this season, but said their early exit from Europe did not mean their campaign was effectively over.

United's 1-0 defeat to Bayern Munich, combined with FC Copenhagen's 1-0 win over Galatasaray, saw the Ten Hag side crash out of European competition altogether after finishing last in Group A.

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The Dutchman said afterwards that his team still had a lot to play for, despite exiting the Carabao Cup and finishing sixth in the Premier League table.

“The fact is we don’t have enough points,” Ten Hag said. “We are disappointed as a group. As a coach I am disappointed. We should have done better. There is still a lot to play for and now we can focus, of course, on the Premier League.

“That's the level we want to play at, the Champions League, so we have to make every effort to be in the top four and come back next year in the Champions League. Then we have the FA Cup, so it There's so much to play for.”

It was an attempt to put a positive spin on Ten Hag, but a 12th defeat of the season – seven of them at home – is another blow in a campaign full of them.

To make matters worse, Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw suffered muscle injuries against Bayern and could now miss the trip to Anfield to face Premier League leaders Liverpool on Sunday.

“We are losing players and players who are very decisive for our game, who can make the difference and in many matches this has also been the case in this campaign,” Ten Hag said. “We didn't always have the players available that we wanted to play for. That's certainly part of it.

“Now I give you a reason, but don’t see this as an excuse, because even if we don’t all agree, we still have to win because these are goals that belong to Manchester United.”