Manchester United will need to win in Germany next week to continue their maiden Women's Champions League adventure, after suffering a 3-2 defeat to Bayern in the first leg of this quarter-final clash on Wednesday night. The Red Devils showed great resilience to twice fight back from a goal down, with them seemingly on for a draw that would give them a greater chance of progressing, until Momoko Tanikawa's late strike settled the matter in favour of the German champions instead.
It looked like United could be in for a tough night when Harder broke the deadlock after just 98 seconds. The former Chelsea forward was a consistent thorn in United's side during her four years in England and she picked up where she left off here, latching onto Arianna Caruso's perfect pass and coolly slotting the ball beyond Phallon Tullis-Joyce. But United settled into the game and drew level midway through the first half, when Le Tissier converted from 12 yards after Glodis Viggosdottir had handled Lea Schuller's shot.
That certainly helped settle any nerves United had and the two sides would play out a very even game from there, exchanging half-chances without either ever really creating any clear cut chances until the scoreline was added to again late in the game. Most of the saves Tullis-Joyce and Ena Mahmutovic had to make were comfortable, while both Viggosdottir and Schuller had decent openings from crosses that they couldn't quite make the most of.
It looked like it was going to peter out into a draw, until a late flurry of goals. First, Harder restored Bayern's lead with a similar move, this time running onto Tanikawa's wonderful through ball and finishing beyond Tullis-Joyce for her fifth goal in eight games against United. But, again, the hosts hit back, only five minutes passing before Hanna Lundkvist met Le Tissier's corner and headed it beyond Mahmutovic to level things up again.
When Tanikawa responded to that just a few minutes later to restore Bayern's lead, though, United had run out of retorts. Marc Skinner's side, on their main draw debut, have impressed in Europe and did well to go toe-to-toe with a terrific team that has lost just once all season, keeping the tie close. However, to continue this adventure, they will need to win in Munich next week.
GOAL rates Man Utd's players from Old Trafford...