Keane criticism hurts Ferguson

Soccer:Manchester United manager, Alex Ferguson hit back at former captain Roy Keane's damning assessment of his team's Champions League exit.

Keane lambasted his old club in the wake of their 2-1 defeat to Basle in Switzerland last night, which dumped them into the Europa League.

The Corkman claimed it was "a reality check" for the likes of Phil Jones, Chris Smalling and Ashley Young, all of whom received substantial praise for their performances during United's flying start to the season.

Clearly, Ferguson was unimpressed. "He had an opportunity to prove himself as a manager too. It is a difficult job," said the Scot.

Yet, on a night when they failed to find a suitable answer to goals from Marco Streller and Alexander Frei until Jones bagged a late consolation and also lost skipper Nemanja Vidic to a knee injury that may keep him out for quite a while, Ferguson has some big questions to answer.

Never has a lack of creativity in midfield looked more glaringly obvious.

Restored to a central striking role, Wayne Rooney was poor, and, with injuries and suspensions biting deep into his squad, United's cover was not good enough.

Ferguson has recovered from worse situations before.

But the loss of up to £20million in revenue is a substantial blow to the balance sheet, just as appearing in UEFA's secondary, Thursday night competition, is what even Patrice Evra called "embarrassing".

"It is embarrassing to be in the Europa League," said the France defender. "I play for Manchester United to play in the Champions League.

"I feel I will wake up and we will have qualified. But it is not a dream it is the reality. We should have woken up earlier in this competition. We deserve to be out."

Ferguson blamed the costly failure to hold on to a two-goal lead against Basle on Matchday Two as the chief cause of United's dismal campaign.

"We were careless. We let ourselves down badly," he said. "Now we have to deal with the disappointment.

"The whole club has used it as motivation many times. "These young players will feel the disappointment tonight. They are going to have to cope with it and get on with their careers.

"It is a loss because it is the best tournament in the world. It is a marvellous tournament. Now we are in a competition I have never been in with Manchester United.

"It does mean Sundays right through and Thursday-Sunday matches. That has to be dealt with.

"That is our penalty for not qualifying tonight."