Thomas Tuchel hails ‘difference maker’ Harry Kane as Bayern Munich boss hints Man Utd should have ‘challenged to win’ Champions League group before finishing last

Bayern secured a deserved 1-0 win at Old Trafford on Tuesday thanks to Kingsley Coman's second-half strike to progress to the knockout stages, whereas United came bottom of the group. Striker Kane got the crucial assist for the winner, taking his goal contributions for the season to 30 (22 goals and eight assists) in all competitions. That led manager Tuchel to heap praise on the England captain, whilst also saying you would "expect" a team like the Red Devils to be challenging to win their Champions League group - albeit from a tough pool containing Galatasaray and Copenhagen.

In his post-match press conference, Tuchel said: "Harry [Kane] is always a difference maker - with his personality, calmness, and quality. The team knows that with Harry up front anything can happen in any minute. He can always assist, he can always score. He's one of our top leaders."

He added: "Manchester United is a huge club. When you see the group, you'd expect them to challenge for winning the group and reaching the round of 16. But from my experience, I can tell you we had a very difficult group. It now looks clear for us in terms of points and gap to the others, but all games were very tight and results were narrow. All teams were competitive with different styles of play"

United and Bayern appear to be going in different directions. The German side look to be regaining their former strength in the Champions League and, naturally, are challenging for the Bundesliga title. The Red Devils, on the other hand, are out of Europe entirely, have next to no chance of challenging for the Premier League, and manager Erik ten Hag is under pressure to keep his job.

United take on Premier League leaders Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday and Bayern host Stuttgart in the Bundesliga on the same day.