UEFA Champions League: Early Exit an Embarrassment for Manchester United

Going to the UEFA Champions League Final has almost become routine for Manchester United in recent years, and the Red Devils certainly had a good enough squad to go back in 2012.

That's not going to happen. United stumbled at FC Basel on Wednesday, dropping the match 2-1 to crash out of the Champions League altogether. Instead of chasing after their fourth Champions League final in the last five years, the Red Devils will have to try their luck in the Europa League.

This, my friends, is an embarrassment. On a good day, this United squad is dominant, yet they got outclassed by a Basel side that clearly wanted it more. 

If you want to, you can apologize for United. You could point out that the Red Devils had chance after chance to notch an equalizer, but they just couldn't get one.

United held possession for much longer than Basel, and put more shots on goal. They simply couldn't catch a break, and it didn't help that United lost Nemanja Vidic to a knee injury in the first half.

So sure, you could chalk this loss up to simple bad luck if you want to. 

If that's the route you want to take, just know that all you're doing is making excuses for United. The truth of the matter is that United lost a match it had no business losing, and because of that, stern words are in order.

For example, Roy Keane put it nicely in saying that United "got what they deserved'' with this loss (see ESPN Soccernet).

"I think [going out] reflects what United have done in truth," said Keane, adding "they haven't scored enough goals and they haven't beaten Basel or Benfica. It's all about scoring goals."

Indeed it is, and let's not forget that scoring goals is something United had been doing very well for much of the season. But after this loss, you can easily look back and notice that the goals haven't been coming as frequently as they once were.

To give you an idea, United last scored three goals in a match back in late October, and they've scored as many as two goals just twice since the start of November.

As such, a reality-check defeat like United's loss to Basel was probably coming sooner or later. That's admittedly not much of an explanation, but it's even less of an excuse.

Looking for consolation? Hey, at least City also got bounced from the Champions League. They will also be heading for the Europa League.

I'm sure the Europa League will be glad to have both of them, even if they don't want to be there.

Between the two of them, though, United deserves to be there.