A schoolboy lapse in concentration and a bad miss by Wayne Rooney wrecked Manchester United's hopes of causing a huge Champions League upset against holders Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday. When United went ahead in the quarter-final second leg with a spectacular Patrice Evra strike after 57 minutes it seemed an improbable victory was possible but they seemed to be still celebrating when Mario Mandzukic headed the equaliser 22 seconds after the re-start.
Even then Rooney missed a gilt-edged chance but there was no way back after that as Bayern eased away to a 3-1 win with Thomas Mueller and the influential Arjen Robben both on target for the hosts who were never totally convincing. Bayern's 4-2 aggregate win kept them on course for a second successive treble and all but put an end to Manchester United's miserable first season under David Moyes.
United are extremely unlikely to finish in the top four of the Premier League this season and winning the Champions League represented their only realistic hope of qualifying for next season's competition."I thought the players did a great job tonight, the only crime was conceding a goal after we scored, 30 seconds afterwards," Moyes, who has experienced a difficult time at Old Trafford since succeeding Alex Ferguson, told reporters. "It's the sort of thing you learn as a schoolboy. We concentrated so fabulously well throughout the game, the players did their jobs, their positioning and awareness (was good), and to give up that goal at that moment was really disappointing."
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