Marc Skinner calls on Manchester United to speculate after ‘punch in the face’ | EUROtoday

Manchester United head coach Marc Skinner says their elimination from the Champions League is the “punch in the face” the membership must get up to the hole in funding between themselves and their rivals.

United’s European journey ended on the quarter-final stage after they had been overwhelmed 2-1 by Bayern Munich in Germany, having misplaced the primary leg 3-2 at Old Trafford final week.

The membership’s exit from the competitors got here on the identical day because the publication of their accounts for the 2024-25 season, which confirmed their wage invoice was half that of Women’s Super League rivals Arsenal. United additionally spent far much less on agent charges between February 2025 and 2026 than their opponents.

Asked whether or not the expectation on his staff is simply too excessive given the hole in sources, Skinner gave a bullish response.

“I think we will learn from what investment is really needed to go into this level of competition for consistent years,” he stated.

“I think we’re still learning as a club. I have incredible pressure, you know that, you read everything every day, sometimes you write it. I have incredible pressure and I hold that pressure. I want to say this, I’m incredibly proud of what my players are doing with the resources we have.

“Because we wear Manchester United’s badge, everybody expects us to be the very best team in the world. We have that expectation too. So that’s the pinch point, because we want to be the best. We’ve got to grow because we’re eight years old. We’re eight years old. You [can] give me all the flak, that’s fine, that’s no problem, that’s my job.

“But if we want to compete at this latter stage, we’ve seen what we’ve got to do, as a club. And then it’s our choice now, isn’t it? We have to look at what we seriously want to achieve and we’ll learn and grow from it. Even as a club, we’re still learning. It takes, sometimes, a punch in the face to wake up.”

United had been with out eight first-team gamers due to damage for this second leg however began strongly and deservedly took the lead after 11 minutes. Melvine Malard capitalised on a defensive error to complete into an empty web and convey her aspect stage on mixture.