Sir Alex Ferguson's men crash out of Europe's elite competition at the group stage for the first time since 2005 as the Swiss champions saw them off with a battling performance
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 its 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 its extra man in the middle enabled it to dominate the early exchanges. Basel, though, defended doggedly and in numbers, and the best chance the visitors mustered was a rushed effort from Park which curled comfortably over the bar.
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 series of dangerous crosses from Shaqiri had already caused uncertainty in the United defense when the young winger’s low driven effort from the left was met with an unconvincing attempted clearance from David De Gea, and Streller gleefully half-volleyed the ball home through the legs of Patrice Evra to give his side the lead.
Streller’s fourth goal in as many games buoyed the hosts and stung United, who immediately set about trying to pick its way through the massed Basel defense.
Their strategy of attempting to find Rooney with crosses from Nani and Young initially seemed misguided against the hosts’ physically imposing defenders, but it almost yielded an equalizer on the half-hour mark.
A lightning United counter gave Nani possession on the right, and the Portuguese winger’s pinpoint cross seemed destined to result in a goal. Rooney, however, failed to make any real contact and Park’s scuffed rebound was gathered gratefully by Basel keeper Yann Sommer.
United, galvanized rather than dismayed by spurning a glorious chance, pushed on until the interval. Giggs’ clever reverse pass allowed Rooney to test Sommer, and moments later the young stopper had to be alert again to deny Nani from point blank range.
Basel, though, survived the siege until the break, and United suffered a further blow when captain Nemanja Vidic had to be stretchered off having twisted his knee in a tussle with Streller.
The second half began as the first had ended, with United pouring forward and Basel sitting deep. Ferguson’s men signaled their intent when Rooney, sent racing through by another superb Giggs pass, unleashed a fierce curler which flew just wide with Sommer beaten.
As if struck by the slender nature of their lead, the hosts rallied, looking to kill the game off. Shaqiri had De Gea worried with a curling effort from the edge of the box before Alexander Frei’s sweetly struck free kick forced a flying stop from the Spaniard.
Moments later the Swiss champions went even closer to a goal, but at the wrong end. Another teasing Nani cross caused Markus Steinhofer to crash an attempted clearance off his own crossbar, causing a desperate scramble in the penalty area before the ball was finally cleared.
United's task got even harder with six minutes left, when 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 equalizer, but Basel held on to secure a famous victory, and to shockingly send United to the Europa League.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment