Champions League Group C wrap: Man Utd suffer shock exit

Manchester United failed to qualify for the Champions League last 16 for the first time in six years after a 2-1 defeat at Basel on Wednesday.

Strikes from Marco Streller and Alexander Frei gave the hosts a 2-0 advantage, and although Phil Jones scrambled a late goal for United, they failed to find the equaliser they needed to claim second in Group C.

The result sees United crash out of Europe’s premier club competition at the group stage for the first time since 2005, and Basel equal their best performance in the tournament since 2003.

Furthermore, United’s long term prospects suffered a further blow with the loss of captain Nemanja Vidic to what appears to be a serious knee injury.

United began with intent, and their extra man in the middle enabled them to dominate the early exchanges.

But having weathered the early storm, the Swiss champions then began to gain a foothold, and quickly broke the deadlock with less than 10 minutes on the clock.

A dangerous cross Xherdan Shaqiri was poorly dealt with by Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea, and Streller gleefully half-volleyed the ball home through the legs of Patrice Evra to give his side the lead.

The goal sparked Sir Alex Ferguson’s men into action, and they dominated possession for the rest of the half, but failed to break down a well-organised Basel defence.

The second half began as the first had ended, with United pouring forward and Basel sitting deep.

Markus Steinhofer nearly gifted United a way back into the match when his attempted clearance from a Nani crossed slammed into the crossbar, but the ball was eventually cleared after a desperate scramble in the penalty area.

Soon after Basel struck at the other end, when defender Chris Smalling naively let Shaqiri’s in-swinging cross run across his body, and Alexander Frei stole in to double the hosts’ lead.

Hope, however, almost immediately followed, when Sommer saved from Welbeck and substitute Federico Macheda smashed against the crossbar before Jones bundled a header just over the line.

United threw everyone forward in a desperate search for an equaliser, but Basel held on to secure a famous victory and second spot in the group behind Benfica.

The Portuguese side confirmed top spot in Group C with a 1-0 win at home against Romanian outfit Otelul Galati; Oscar Cardozo scoring the winner for Benfica after just seven minutes.