United Eliminated From Champions League Tournament

United are out of the Champions League after slipping to a 2-1 defeat in Basel, courtesy of goals from Marco Streller and Alexander Frei.

Despite dominating most of the match, the Reds were beaten as Streller's early strike was added to by Frei's close-range effort in the 84th minute. Phil Jones' late header, his second goal in consecutive games after breaking his career duck at Aston Villa, proved insufficient as the hosts held out in injury time. United will instead compete in the Europa League for the first time and a night of misery was compounded by Nemanja Vidic's knee injury just before half-time with fears that the Serbian faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

Sir Alex opted to field Wayne Rooney in a lone striker's role and the Reds settled quickly despite the wet conditions. Ji-sung Park curled an early shot on the turn wide and there had been no real warning of what was to follow at the other end in the ninth minute. With Chris Smalling stricken on the ground with a head injury after a collision with Vidic, play was allowed to continue with Xherdan Shaqiri's driven cross only kicked out by David De Gea to Streller, who returned it with interest by smashing past the Spanish keeper.

United's bright opening had counted for nothing and it was left to Nani to try and inspire a response. The winger fired over from a central position before being guilty of an over-ambitious long-range effort when Yann Sommer gifted him the ball. Some classic wing play by the Portugal international should have produced the equaliser but his inviting cross was miskicked by Rooney with Park also unable to convert inside the six-yard box.

Nani continued to be the main outlet and an outrageous piece of skill saw him battle past two defenders before Ashley Young eventually headed off target. The dominant visitors continued to press and Ryan Giggs' excellent reverse pass released Rooney, only for the striker's shot to lack the power to really trouble Sommer. Some desperate defending was required to block attempts from Nani and Phil Jones but the half ended in dismay with captain Vidic taken off a stretcher after sustaining a serious-looking knee injury. Without the skipper, United were under real pressure going into the second half and needed to step up to the plate.

Basel gained more possession after the break but Rooney raced onto another fantastic through ball by Giggs, only to curl wide with his crafty attempt failing to bend accurately enough. Nani forced a diving save out of Sommer but Basel carried greater threat themselves with Shaqiri off target after Streller capitalised on a quick throw-in. De Gea then produced a flying save to keep out an Alexander Frei free-kick and keep United in with a shout.

On the hour mark, only the woodwork denied the Reds as Markus Steinhofer inexplicably hammered a Nani cross against the underside of his own bar. Young was unable to convert the rebound and another chance was missed when Rooney cut inside but dragged a tame shot wide. Sir Alex replaced Young with Danny Welbeck in a bid to add more energy to his attack but Rooney was offside when heading over a Smalling cross from close range as time started to run out.

When a corner fell to Rooney on the edge of the box 15 minutes from time, he could only steer a deliberate shot the wrong side of Sommer's left-hand post and Jones stormed forward only to deliver a cross to the grateful Sommer. One final throw of the dice from the manager with nine minutes left saw Federico Macheda replace Park but, to everyone's surprise, it was Basel who found the net next.

Shaqiri whipped over a dangerous cross from the right that was not dealt with by the United defence and Alexander Frei got behind Smalling to stoop to conquer and delight the noisy capacity crowd. Jones pulled one back with a couple of minutes left by heading over the line after Sommer thwarted Welbeck and Macheda rattled the underside of the bar. With only three minutes of stoppage time played, however, there was no realistic chance of a dramatic late rescue act.

Benfica win Group C after disposing of Oteleul Galati but there will be no further Champions League involvement for last season's runners-up, the Reds instead being left to try and win the Europa League for the first time.


Ferguson cuts a frustrated figure as his team are out of the Champions League tournament