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Manchester United crash out of Europe

Villarreal's Antonio Guayre, center, is congratulated by his teammates after scoring against Lille during their Champions League soccer match at Madrigal stadium in Villarreal, Castellon, Spain, on Wednesday. PHOTO: EPA

The final 16 of the Champions League was completed on Wednesday when Benfica, Villarreal and Werder Bremen became the last three teams to advance in Europe's most prestigious club competition.

Villarreal defeated Lille 1-0 to win Group D, and Benfica upset two-time champion Manchester United 2-1 to take second place in the group. In Group C, Werder Bremen defeated Panathinaikos 5-1 to finish second behind Barcelona, which had already advanced.

Thirteen teams had already qualified for the final-16 knockout stage: AC Milan, PSV Eindhoven, Lyon, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Arsenal, Ajax, Liverpool, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Rangers and Barcelona.

Manchester United was the shock of the night.

United's loss at Benfica in Group D left the English power in last place in the group -- and out of Europe. United finished with six points, the same as Lille. Lille claimed third place -- and a place in the UEFA Cup -- ahead of Manchester United because the French team beat United in one group game and drew the other.

The last time Manchester United was ousted from the Champions League group stage was 1994-1995, when it failed to qualify for the competition. Since then, the club has reached the knockout stage nine straight times, and won the title in 1999.

"When you are chasing a game like that, there is a certain desperation that comes in and there's anxiety," United manager Alex Ferguson said.

"And we needed a bit of composure. We overdid it a bit and became a bit desperate," he said.

Trying to sound upbeat, Ferguson blamed part of the loss on a young squad that he hopes will improve with Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool having replaced United as England's dominant teams.

"It's a blow and what you have to do is regroup. This club in history has always risen from difficult situations, and we'll do so again," Ferguson said.

Benfica coach Ronald Koeman called the result historic. Like United, Benfica is a two-time European champion. The Lisbon club also lost two other finals -- in 1988 and 1990.

"Benfica is a big club with a lot of history, but what we did here today will go down as a great thing. It's a giant step for this club," Koeman said.

In other results on Wednesday: Brugge 1, Bayern Munich 1, and Rapid Vienna 1, Juventus 3 in Group A; Arsenal 0, Ajax 0, and Sparta Prague 0, Thun 0 in Group B; and Udinese 0, Barcelona 2 in Group C.

The draw for the knockout round is Dec. 16.

Juventus' victory, coupled with Bayern's draw gave the Italians first place in Group A with 15 points. Bayern finished with 13. Alessandro del Piero scored twice and Zlatan Ibrahimovic added the third for Juventus.

Arsenal and Ajax were already guaranteed the top two spots in from Group B, and the 0-0 draw changed nothing. Arsenal finished with 16 points and Ajax had 11.

Barcelona's two late goals against Udinese -- from Santi Ezequerro and Andres Iniesta -- eliminated the Italians, who would have advanced from Group C with a draw. Barca finished with 16 points.

Nelson Valdez led Werder Bremen with two goals. Johan Micoud, Torsten Frings and Miroslav Klose also scored for the German team. Bremen and Udinese finished with seven points, but the Germans advanced because of better head-to-head results in their two group games.

Villarreal won Group D with 10 points with Benfica in second on eight. Lille and Manchester United each had six. Villarreal got the winner in the 67th from substitute Antonio Guayre.

"It was a difficult game," Villarreal coach Manuel Pellegrini said. "We were nervous in the first half, but we improved after halftime. Guayre's goal calmed us down. We did our job."
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