Manchester United refuses to give up Champions League dream

Skinner responded that his side should have gone a little deeper to prevent Harder from scoring.

“We made two mistakes there,” he said.

“If you put pressure on the ball, you can’t play the long ball. He tried to do that a few times and played the ball out of play.

“It worked out for them tonight, but if I block those two chances, they don’t score.”

It sounds simple. But implementation at the highest level is important. If you don’t do it properly, you will be punished.

There are many small details to explain why United came up on the wrong side of a difficult result.

One of them is unquestionably squad depth.

Take the case of Japan midfielder Hinata Miyazawa, who played in the Asian Cup final in Sydney on Sunday, then returned to start for United.

In contrast, Tanikawa, who did not take the pitch against Australia, started on the bench for Bayern, who were conscious of the effects of jetlag and wanted the midfielder to make an impact, which he did, setting up Harder, then scoring the winner.

Skinner doesn’t have enough players to go around like that.

It makes the next few days, which include another Old Trafford outing against Women’s Super League leaders Manchester City on Saturday before a trip to Germany for the second leg with Bayern next Wednesday (17:45 BST), particularly difficult.

“We’ve played the most football in Europe this year and we have a minimal team right now, so it’s going to challenge us,” Skinner said.

“It will take us deeper. However, we have the opportunity to achieve our goals.

“We expect it to be difficult. You have the freedom to decide what actions to take.

“That’s why my players are at Manchester United.

If they didn’t want to do this job, then they wouldn’t be at this club. They are committed to giving their best.