LEAD: Misery for Manchester as City, United crash in Champions League

By Barry Whelan Dec 7, 2011, 22:24 GMT

Berlin - Premier League giants Manchester United and Manchester City crashed out of the Champions League Wednesday as Napoli, Lyon, Basel and CSKA Moscow advanced to the knock-out stage in a night of upsets.

United, the 2008 winners, losing finalists last season and finalists in three of the past four seasons, slipped to a 2-1 defeat in group C at Swiss champions Basel who progress from the group stage for the first time.

Premier League leaders Manchester City meanwhile defeated Bayern Munich 2-0 but will join United in the Europa League after Napoli earned a 2-0 win at Villarreal in group A.

For Sir Alex Ferguson's United, it is only the third time in 17 Champions League seasons that they have failed to get past the group stage and the first time since the 2005-06 season.

The results Tuesday and Wednesday mean two Spanish and two English clubs have gone out, leaving Italy the best represented nation with three teams in the last 16.

French hopes Olympique Lyon meanwhile beat all the odds to qualify at the expense of Ajax on goal difference thanks to a 7-1 victory at Dinamo Zagreb while the Dutch side crashed 3-0 at home to Real Madrid in group D.

CSKA Moscow caused an surprise in group B with a 2-1 win at Inter Milan to leap to second place in the group behind the Italians.

The win left the Russians a point ahead of Trabzonspor who fought a goalless draw at Lille, the French side ending a further point behind at the bottom of the group.

Napoli advanced behind Bayern Munich in group A after goals from Goekhan Inter in the 65th minute and Marek Hamsik in the 76th gave them the victory they needed.

Manchester City were able to defeat Bayern thanks to goals from David Silva in the 37th minute and Yaya Toure in the 52nd, but Napoli's victory means Roberto Mancini's side finish third.

City manager Roberto Mancini said: 'It was a tough group and we made some mistakes but that can happen and the game in Naples did it.

'Our lives aren't finished now, we will go into the Europa League and it is an important trophy for Manchester City.

'We are a good team and we are sorry for our supporters and my players who deserve to play in the Champions League. But we need to improve. We got the hardest group, we knew that before the start. Congratulations to Napoli. It is strange for United to go out.'

Benfica clinched top spot in group A with a 1-0 defeat of Otelul Galati, while Basel sent United into the Europa League.

Marco Streller in the ninth minute and Alexander Frei with six minutes remaining put Basel ahead before Phil Jones gave United late hope with an 89th minute header.

'It's crazy - we beat Manchester United at home,' Basel keeper Yann Sommer said.

'We are a Swiss team from a little country and we have beaten one of the biggest teams in the world.'

Bafetimbi Gomis led the way with four goals for Lyon in their 7-1 hammering of a Zagreb side that played with 10 men for more than an hour.

Zagreb took the lead through Mateo Kovacic in the 40th minute despite being reduced to 10 men following the dismissal of Jerko Leko in the 28th minute but Gomis levelled just before half-time.

Maxime Gonalons and Gomis again scored within a minute, three minutes after the break, and Gomis made it four, four minutes later. Lisandro Lopez in the 65th, Gomis with his fourth in the 70th and Jimmy Briand in the 76th completed the scoring.

Ajax went down to Real, who scored first-half goals through Jose Callejon (14) and Gonzalo Higuain (42) before Callejon notched his second in stoppage time.

Real ended the group with a maximum 18 points, while Ajax and Lyon finished on eight and Zagreb were without a point.

Group winners Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Arsenal, APOEL Nicosia, Benfica, holders Barcelona plus fellow qualifiers Napoli, Basel, CSKA Moscow, Lyon, Bayer Leverkusen, Olympique Marseille, Zenit St Petersburg and AC Milan go into the last 16 draw on December 16.