Anything is possible, Erik ten Hag had claimed, if Manchester United brought their A-game. And yet it still felt outlandish to really believe they were about to beat Bayern Munich, let alone have the other Group A game between Copenhagen and Galatasaray end in a draw; the double whammy to save their skin.
United, after all, have not beaten a top-ranked team during this traumatic season. They have only won once against opponents that currently sit in the top half of the Premier League table – and that was 10th-placed Fulham. They were not terrible, they competed, they were not blown away by the champions of Germany. These are the kind of positives for which their fans must scrape.