Basel 1 Manchester United 0
A frustrated Jose Mourinho has blamed his side’s wastefulness in front of goal for their failure to qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League.
Man Utd should still join Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester City in the knockout phase, provided they avoid a seven-goal defeat to CSKA Moscow in their final group game, at Old Trafford on 5 December - but that isn’t the point for Mourinho.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Latest Videos FromThe Week
The team should have picked up the point they needed in Switzerland, but despite enjoying 74% possession in the first-half, they couldn’t find the back of the net.
Marouane Fellaini and Marcos Rojo rattled the woodwork, but Basel held firm, and then pinched a goal on 89 minutes when Michael Lang poked home Raoul Petretta’s cross at the back post.
Despite their defeat, United still lead Group A on 12 points, three clear of both Basel and CSK.
Following yesterday’s disappointing result, Mourinho said: “We lost because in the first half we should be 5-0 up, but we could not score one goal after being so dominant. It looked for many periods in the first half that it was impossible not to win. I think the majority of the second half [there was] the feeling of everyone was OK, it will be 0-0, but they got the late goal.”
Midway through the second-half Mourinho hauled off Paul Pogba and sent on Nemanja Matic, a substitution that according to Frank Lampard, in the BT Sport studio, was a mistake.
“Mourinho, with 25 minutes to go, pretty much shut up shop,” said Lampard, who played under the Portuguese manager at Chelsea. “He brought Matic on, took Pogba off, and they still allowed Basel to gain momentum again and again and again. That’s not good enough.”
Asked about the substitution in the post-match conference, Mourinho admitted it had disrupted his side.
“It did have an impact, we were not such a good team after Paul came off,” he conceded. “I brought to the pitch an experienced player like Matic and thought it couldn’t affect the game.”
Nonetheless, Mourinho was philosophical about the result. “I think we play a match like this ten times, and nine times we win comfortably,” he said. “In the end, we lost so it’s hard for me to be upset with the players. In the first half, the attitude and football was good. It’s just football.”
Paris Saint-Germain 7 Celtic 1
In Group B, Scottish champions Celtic suffered a 7-1 mauling by Paris Saint-Germain.
Moussa Dembele had given Celtic the lead in the opening minute, but PSG replied with Neymar (two), Edinson Cavani and Kylian Mbappe before half-time.
PSG added to their score when Marco Verratti, Cavani and Dani Alves netted in the second-half.
Last night’s Champions League results
Group A
- CSKA Moscow 2 Benfica 0
- FC Basel 1 Manchester United 0
Group B
- Paris Saint-Germain 7 Celtic 1
- RSC Anderlecht 1 Bayern Munich 2
Group C
- FK Qarabag 0 Chelsea 4
- Atletico Madrid 2 Roma 0
Group D
- Juventus 0 Barcelona 0
- Sporting Lisbon 3 Olympiakos 1
