Mourinho bemoans his side’s profligacy

MANCHESTER UNITED boss Jose Mourinho was left to rue his side’s wastefulness in front of goal after their narrow loss in Basle. Despite last night’s 1-0 defeat, the Red Devils only need to avoid a heavy loss in their last game at home to Spartak Moscow to finish on top of Group A. But things could have been so different had his side showed a cutting edge in the first half. Marouane Fellaini saw a header cleared off the line and Anthony Martial’s cross hit the post, with Marcos Rojo seeing an outrageous long-range effort deflected onto the bar on his return from a cruciate ligament injury after 216 days out. Mourinho said: ‘We lost because, in the first half, we should have been 5-0 up, but we could not score after being dominant. ‘It looked for many periods in the first half that it was impossible not to win. ‘I think the majority of the second half the feeling of everyone was: “Okay, it will be 0-0”, but they got the late goal.’ Mourinho refused to blame defender Daley Blind for his part in Basle’s 89th-minute winner after the Dutch defender failed to track Michael Lang at the back post. ‘It is not fair for Blind to blame himself,’ added Mourinho. ‘He had a very positive game. We have to blame everyone on the pitch because we had so many chances. ‘We don’t need to win the (final group) match, but, obviously, we will try to.’ Referring to Basle’s goal, Blind added: ‘It was a good cross. He came round the back and I was a little too late. The second half was up and down. We have enough confidence in the group. We will be well.’ Full-back Matteo Darmian added: ‘We played well in the first half, but did not score. We go back to Manchester with a defeat, so we have to recover well.’