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It's A Low Moment But We Must Regroup - Fergie Sir Alex Ferguson was visibly shell-shocked after seeing United crash out of Europe altogether following their 2-1 defeat to Benfica in Lisbon.
A draw would have been good enough for the Reds, but they were unable to muster a single shot on goal in the second half having taken a sixth minute lead through Paul Scholes.
Goals from Geovanni and Beto gave Benfica the victory which took them through to the knock-out stages of the Champions League and in turn dumped United out of the competition leaving them bottom of Group D.
Villarreal topped the group after their 1-0 win over Lille, who will go into the UEFA Cup because of their superior record over United in their head-to-head clashes this season.
Fergie spoke to Sky Sports after the match and discussed where he felt things went wrong...
Sir Alex, Manchester United are out of Europe before Christmas. You must be in shock...
Yes I am. It's a low moment because we've prided ourselves on our performances in Europe over the last thirteen years. We've won it once, made it to the semi-finals and quarter-finals on a number of occasions during that period and have always done particularly well in the group stages. This is certainly a low moment and not one of the best for the club or the supporters, but the only thing you can do now is regroup and start again, that's part of your job. Keeping the ball is essential on the European stage and unfortunately we gave possession away too easily against Benfica. Hopefully we can learn from that because we were in a winning position at 1-0 and were looking well. The lads put a lot of determination into their game in the second half, dominated possession and got into some very good positions. But when you're chasing a game like we were, a certain amount of desperation and anxiety creeps in and when we needed some composure we overdid things and became a bit desperate. That's understandable though because the players were keen to win.
Although you've gone out of the competition tonight, where do you think your campaign floundered?
We've always depended on our home form and that's has let us down this time. We found it difficult to break Lille down when we played them at Old Trafford. We played with ten men for 35 minutes and they just sat back and defended. That was a game which we felt was a good opportunity to forge ahead in the group because Villarreal and Benfica played each other that night. We had some good chances in our home match with Villarreal but weren't able to take them. A draw tonight would have put us through to the next stages of the Champions League, but even if we'd have won the match, I'd still have been talking about our home form. That's where we've let ourselves down a little.
Just how big a blow is it to be out of the competition at this stage and what are the ramifications?
It's a blow but as I said we just have to regroup. Throughout it's history, this club has always risen from difficult situations and will do so again.
Does the fact that there's not even a UEFA Cup place for you just compound your misery?
Oh absolutely. At the time when we chasing pole position in the group we were doing so with a lot of young players. We had seven players out through injury and that's why we were prepared to risk Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs against Benfica. They bring the kind of experience to the team that we hoped would help us. It was maybe a bit too soon for Ryan. He played an hour against Portsmouth but I think he found it a bit difficult tonight. Gary's done very well to get through the match. I was ready to take him off because I knew he would be blowing hard after being out for so long, but John O'Shea was feeling his hamstring so I was forced to keep Gary on. Louis Saha was another who we brought on. He's a player that has the ability and the experience that we've lacked throughout the campaign. When we've needed our top players they've not been there.
Is tonight's result even more frustrating given the fact that you've been doing so well in the Premiership recently?
I think the confidence has grown within the club over the last few games because we've played very well. But as I said before, we made an easy game [with Benfica] very hard for ourselves. We committed a cardinal sin by the way in which we gave the ball away and the players know that. We've lost the game by giving possession of the ball away.
You've talked about rebuilding. Where are you in terms of that rebuilding and how far away are you from having a team that can challenge for the Champions League once again?
I think the nucleus of the side is fine. We're always looking to improve ourselves particularly from within the club because that's always been part of our club. Young players come through and join the first team squad and sometimes one will emerge and replace one of the older players. We've seen that happen many times in the past; that's just evolution. On the other side of it, we're always looking at players in the game who we think can help us improve, that never stops. We've got a good squad and when we get all the players fit again and they get some games behind them, we'll be a better team.
Will the club's exit from Europe have a financial impact on what you can do in the transfer market?
No I don't think there's a problem with that - we've been told we can buy. We're looking at one or two situations but as you know January isn't the easiest time. There are a lot of players who are committed to European football and therefore there are some targets for the summer. But there may also be one or two in January.
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