Manchester United have been sent crashing out of the Champions League group stages with a 2-1 defeat at FC Basel.
The visitors controlled the opening exchanges, but it was Basel who took the lead on eight minutes when Marco Streller fired home after David de Gea failed to clear his lines.
Despite going behind, United continued to press against their opponents and Nani came close when he fired narrowly over.
The away side should have been level soon after, but Wayne Rooney fluffed his shot when the ball had been squared for him.
United's evening went from bad to worse just before the break as captain Nemanja Vidic was stretchered off after he fell awkwardly on his right knee when challenging for the ball.
Sir Alex Ferguson's side started the second half strongly, but Basel could have doubled their lead were it not for a fine save by De Gea from the ever-lively Xherdan Shaqiri's shot.
The elusive equaliser almost came in fortunate circumstances when Basel's Markus Steinhofer hooked the ball onto his own crossbar when trying to clear Nani's cross.
As the time ticked down United's offensive play grew desperate as they were met by a dogged Swiss defence.
Any hopes that the Premier League champions had off levelling the match were dashed with five minutes to play when Alex Frei snuck in at the back post to head in.
The Red Devils pulled one goal back with two minutes to go after Phil Jones headed in after Federico Macheda's shot had crashed back off the bar.
It is the first time since 2005 that United have failed to progress past the group stages.
Jack Prescott
