Man United, Man City out, Arsenal, Chelsea kama kawa

Both Manchester clubs crashed out of the Champions League on Wednesday night and now face the humiliation of Thursday night football.

On one of Sir Alex Ferguson's worst nights in Europe, a shock 2-1 defeat in Switzerland saw United fail to progress from the group stage for the first time since the 2005-06 season, and only the third time in Ferguson's reign.

City also went out despite a convincing 2-0 win at home to Bayern Munich as Napoli won by the same score in Villarreal - meaning the Barclays Premier League's top two have been demoted to the Europa League.

'It's embarrassing to be in the Europa League,' said defender Patrice Evra.

'I'm not ready for it and the way I feel now it's Champions League or nothing. It feels like a dream. I feel I'll wake up tomorrow and we will have qualified.

But it's not a dream, it's the reality and we should have woken up earlier. We haven't been professional from the beginning of this competition.'

To make matters worse, captain Nemanja Vidic went off on a stretcher after injuring his right knee just before half-time and he later left St Jakob Park on crutches.

Ferguson said: 'We don't know about Vidic. It's certainly medial ligament but hopefully that's the worst it is.'

United only needed to avoid defeat but Marco Streller and Alexander Frei gave Basle a two-goal advantage before Phil Jones got one back late on.

'It's a loss because it's the best tournament in the world,' added Ferguson after seeing United finish third in the easiest group.

'The Europa League is a competition I've never been in with United. It means playing on Thursday and Sunday right through and that has to be dealt with. That's our penalty for not qualifying. You have to deal with disappointment. It's been used as a motivation many times.'

Ferguson also hit back at Roy Keane after hearing the former United skipper had criticised his players on television.

'Roy had a chance to prove himself as a manager and it's a hard job,' said Ferguson.

Basle caretaker coach Heiko Vogel said: 'This was our final today and everything worked out right. We didn't just win, we deserved to win.'

Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini struggled to contain his bitter disappointment after crashing out of the Champions League

Asked whether he would field a weakened team, to safeguard key players for Barclays Premier League duty, he shrugged and said:

'I think that maybe now the Europa League will feel like it's not a very important trophy, certainly not as much as the Champions League.

But for City, it can be important, because we need to win trophies. If we can reach the final, then you can be sure it will mean a lot to everyone. We must give it our best shot, but at the moment, I am very disappointed, because I really wanted us to go through tonight.