Manchester United legend Roy Keane admitted his former side “got what they deserved” as they crashed out of the Champions League at the group stage tonight.
Alex Ferguson’s men suffered a 2-1 defeat to Basel in Switzerland, Phil Jones’ late headed goal not enough after Marco Streller and Alexander Frei had put the hosts in control.
The result left United winless in four meetings with tonight’s opponents and their fellow qualifiers Benfica, their only victories coming against Romanian minnows Otelul Galati.
“I think going out reflects what United have done in truth, they haven’t scored enough goals and they haven’t beaten Basel or Benfica,” said Keane, part of ITV1’s summarising team for the match. “It’s all about scoring goals.”
The last time United failed to qualify from a Champions League group was in 2005, shortly after Keane’s acrimonious departure from the club.
And the former Republic of Ireland captain feels United’s much-vaunted class of 2011 have much still to prove.
“People have talked about the young players – you’ve had Jones, Chris Smalling, Ashley Young coming in, everybody building them up but they’ve got a lot to do, it’s a reality check for some,” Keane said.
“I’d be getting hold of some of those lads, saying ‘you’d better buck up your ideas’.
“I think their best player tonight was Ryan Giggs, that sums it up – he 37 or 38, you can’t be depending on him.
“United got what they deserved tonight.”