FC BASEL vs MANCHESTER UNITED – REVIEW

FC BASEL 2

Streller (8), Frei (83)

Man United 1

Jones (88)

It was a gloomy day for Manchester as both Manchester sides were knocked out of the Champions League on Wednesday night. United suffered an embarrassing 1-2 defeat to Basel while City also finished third in the group despite defeating Bayern Munich.

United went into the match knowing they needed all 3 points to go through the next round.

Despite starting the match positively, United were down by a goal in the 8^th minute when Chris Smalling was lying on the ground after a collision with Vidic. The play was allowed to continue and Xherdan Shaqiri's shot was kicked out by David De Gea which went straight to Streller who did not make any mistake to score Basel’s first goal of the game.

United kept attacking with a Nani inspired show of trickery and finally he delivered a great cross from the right which was miskicked by Rooney and Park right in front of goal. With two great opportunities wasted United went into the break a goal down.

There was another blow for United in the first half when Vidic was stretchered off with what looks like a long term injury to his knee. The bad luck with injuries continues for Sir Alex.

The second half saw a great David De Gea save of an Alexander Frei free kick. Markus Steinhofer almost helped United draw level after his clearance hit the woodwork and  Ashley Young was unable to connect after the rebound.

Young was replaced by Welbeck and Macheda came on for Park to inspire United. But it was Basel who scored again. Alexander Frei met Shaqiri’s cross to put Basel 2-0 up.

It looked all over for United but a late surge saw them get a goal back. Macheda rattled the bar and Welbeck’s shot was well saved by the Basel goalkeeper which went straight to Phil Jones, who scored his second goal for United after his header just crossed the goal line. However this tuned out to be just a consolation as United did not have time for the equaliser.

This was only the third time in 16 years that Sir Alex has failed to qualify for the last 16. The three time Cup winners will have to be content with the Europa Cup, a competition which they have hardly played and never won.