UCL: Man Utd Finish Second In Group After Limp Valencia Defeat

Manchester United slumped to a limp defeat in Valencia as Paul Pogba's glaring miss and Phil Jones' own goal ensured they missed the chance to win Champions League Group H.

United were already assured of qualification for the knockout stages, and a win would have taken them above Juventus, who were surprisingly beaten 2-1 by Young Boys of Switzerland.

But Jose Mourinho's side put in a poor performance and were well beaten by a team, 15th in the Spanish top flight, who named an experimental line-up as they were already certain of finishing third.

Carlos Soler pounced on Jones' headed clearance to strike home a fizzing low finish amid slack marking for Valencia's opener.

And Jones was badly at fault for the second after the break as he diverted a through ball past Sergio Romero from outside his own box, when the United keeper had left his line to claim the ball.

That disastrous error followed a remarkable miss by Pogba in the first half, when the France midfielder somehow stabbed wide from four yards out after Marouane Fellaini's knockdown at a corner.

Three second-half substitutes combined to earn a late consolation, as Marcus Rashford headed home Ashley Young's cross after Jesse Lingard kept the ball in play.

Juan Mata then almost grabbed an equaliser as he fired a volley wide from inside the box after Pogba's smart chip over the defence.

But defeat means United will play a group winner in the knockout stage, one of Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund, Paris St-Germain, Porto, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.

Had United finished top, they would have faced one of Atletico Madrid, Roma, Schalke, Ajax and Lyon.

They next play Premier League leaders Liverpool at Anfield in a 16:00 GMT kick-off on Sunday.