Jose Mourinho thought the result at the Mestalla on Wednesday night wouldn’t matter. It turned out the Manchester United manager was wrong.
Juventus’s surprise defeat to Young Boys in Switzerland meant that United’s failure to win here cost them first place in Group H – as much as it would have flattered them – and the chance of an easier draw in the last 16.
Instead, Mourinho made a raft of changes in the belief that the result would be irrelevant and saw United well beaten by a Valencia team who can count themselves unfortunate to be dropping into the Europa League.
Romero falls to his knees as Phil Jones scores a calamitous own goal just seconds after play restarted for the second half
The United defender was under pressure from Michy Batshuayi (right) as Jones tried to pass the ball back to his goalkeeper
As Romero ran out to collect the ball, Jones swiped at it and horrendously scored an own goal to double Valencia’s lead
Batshuayi (right) raises his arms in celebration for putting Jones under pressure before he scored the dreadful own goal
United manager Jose Mourinho can barely watch as the Red Devils get the second half off to the worst possible start
MATCH FACTS, GROUP TABLE, PLAYER RATINGS AND MATCH ZONE
VALENCIA: (4-4-2) Domenech 6.5; Piccini 7.5, Vezo 7, Diakhaby 6, Lato 6.5 (Garay 51, 6); Soler 8, Kondogbia 6.5, Parejo 7, Cheryshev 6.5 (Torres 66, 6), Mina 7 (Rodrigo 68, 6), Batshuayi 6.5
SUBS NOT USED: Neto, Coquelin, Wass, Lee
GOALS: Soler (17), Jones (OG 47)
BOOKINGS: Lato (28)
COACH: Marcelino Garcia Toral 7
MANCHESTER UNITED: (4-3-3) Romero 6; Valencia 5.5, Bailly 6, Jones 5, Rojo 5 (Young 46, 6); Fred 5 (Rashford 57, 6), Fellaini 6, Pogba 5; Mata 7, Lukaku 5.5 (Lingard 69, 6), Pereira 6
SUBS NOT USED: Grant (GK); Ander Herrera, Garner, Greenwood
GOALS: Rashford (86)
BOOKINGS: Valencia (11), Bailly (29), Rashford (82)
COACH: Jose Mourinho 5
REFEREE: Georgi Kabakov (Bulgaria) 7
MAN OF THE MATCH: Carlos Soler
VENUE: Mestalla Stadium
ATTENDANCE: N/A
Carlos Soler scored with a low-driven shot to give Valencia the lead
Phil Jones scored a horrific own goal just seconds after the break. For more of Sportsmail’s brilliant MATCH ZONE feature, click here.
That was decided before kick-off here. But Mourinho was still looking or a performance from some players and he didn’t get it.
Paul Pogba, benched for three of the last five games, started and did nothing to suggest that he should keep his place against Liverpool on Sunday.
Indeed, the erratic Frenchman was guilty of a horrible miss in the first half when he was wrongly flagged offside.
Phil Jones won’t remember this night too fondly either. His header led to Carlos Soler’s opeing goal in the first half, and Jones calamitously scored the second in his own net soon after half-time.
So United progress to the knockout stage of the Champions League, but no-one is pretending this has been an impressive European campaign.
Marcus Rashford scored a late consolation goal for United as he rose highest to head home four minutes from time
The second-half substitute gave the visitors a brief moment of hope of getting a result out of the game on Wednesday
But it was too little too late for United as Rashford tried to get things going with four minutes of normal time left
Ultimately, it was injury-time goals against Juventus and Young Boys that have seen them through.
They could even have done so as winners of Group H with victory at the Mestalla last night as Juve suffered a surprise defeat in Switzerland, but that really would have been pushing it.
A much-changed United were well beaten by a Valencia team who can count themselves unfortunate to be dropping into the Europa League.
That was decided before kick-off here, rendering this game rather meaningless. But although the result didn’t matter as much as it might have, Mourinho was looking or a performance from some players and he didn’t get it.
Paul Pogba, benched for three of the last five games, started and did nothing to suggest that he should keep his place against Liverpool on Sunday.
Indeed, the erratic Frenchman was guilty of a horrible miss in the first half when he was wrongly flagged offside.
Phil Jones won’t remember this night too fondly either. His header led to Carlos Soler’s opeing goal in the first half, and Jones calamitously scored the second in his own net soon after half-time.
Carlos Soler’s fantastic low-driven shot went through the legs of Eric Bailly (not pictured) to give Valencia a 1-0 lead
Carlos Soler (right) celebrates breaking the deadlock with Mina (left) in the first half on Wednesday evening in Spain
The midfielder is congratulated by his Valencia team-mates as they led Manchester United after 17 minutes
Romelu Lukaku (right) looks dejected as United have to get the game restarted after conceding to Valencia in the first half
Both managers made good on their promise to rest players as Mourinho and Marcelino made eight changes apiece from their league matches on Saturday with an eye on more important fixtures this weekend.
United face arch rivals Liverpool at Anfield while Valencia meet Eibar having dropped to 15th place in La Liga.
Their Champions League hopes ended the moment Marouane Fellaini fired a late winner with more than a hint of handball against Young Boys at Old Trafford a fortnight ago.
That accounted for the boos when the Belgian’s name was read out last night, although far worse was reserved for Antonio Valencia after he was booked inside the opening 10 minutes for flattening Lato with an ugly challenge. Even more so when the Valencia defender was also cautioned for taking revenge before half-time.
Fellaini and Valencia were among the players brought into the side on a night when 17-year-olds James Garner and Mason Greenwood were on the bench, but it felt like all eyes were on Pogba.
‘I think he makes so many bad decisions in games which is frustrating because if he was playing under a Guardiola or a Klopp I think we’d be looking at certainly one of the best few players in the world,’ former United striker Michael Owen told BT Sport before kick-off.
This was another one of those rather aimless performances from Pogba who struggled to impose himself on the game and was guilty of a quite astonishing miss in the 35th minute.
Antonio Valencia (right) was shown a yellow card for a nasty-looking tackle on Lato during the first half at the Mestalla
The United captain was cautioned for the challenge that saw Lato roll around on the pitch in pain during the first half
Andreas Pereira swung over a corner from the right and Fellaini’s downward header crept through a crowd of players and found the Frenchman unmarked at the far post just yards from goal.
Valencia keeper Jaume Domenech was already retreating into his own net, clearly expecting the worst, but Pogba somehow skewed his effort the wrong side of the post.
The linesman’s flag spared him instant embarrassment but television replays showed that he was actually onside.
That was United’s best chance of the first half by some margin as they were once again outplayed by a slick Valencia side who had also impressed during a goalless draw at Old Trafford in October.
They started well and went ahead in the 17th minute when Cristiano Piccini and Santi Mina combined on the right flank for the latter to send in a cross.
Phil Jones headed clear but it only reached Carlos Soler just inside the box. He had time to drill a low shot with his right foot and United’s reserve keeper Sergio Romero was totally unsighted as it flew through the crowded goalmouth and into the bottom corner. For the 10th time in 15 games, United had conceded first.
Paul Pogba confronts Bulgarian referee Georgi Kabakov after a decision fails to go United’s way on Wednesday night in Spain
Lukaku (right) battles with Valencia’s Mouctar Diakhaby (left) for possession during the first half at the Mestalla Stadium
Valencia’s on-loan striker Batshuayi complains to his team-mates as the Spanish side missed another good opportunity
Their response wasn’t particularly good on this occasion. It took Mourinho’s side nearly half an hour to seriously threaten when Juan Mata was given a clear sight of goal against his old club but his volley was deflected wide.
Valencia wouldn’t have been flattered by a second goal and so nearly got it when on-loan Chelsea striker Michy Batshuayi met Piccini’s excellent cross and headed over from point-blank range.
Romero also kept out Soler’s effort at the near post and the home fans howled for a penalty after Mouctar Diakhaby appeared to be held back as he tried to reach the rebound.
However, the Spaniards increased their lead within two minutes of the restart. Mourinho had sent on Ashley Young for Marcos Rojo at the interval to counter Valencia’s threat down right, but this one came through the middle and was finished by one of his own players.
Jones galloped after Soler’s throughball under pressure from Batshuayi. He must have seen that Romero was coming off his line as he slid in to prod the ball back to him, but steered it beyond the keeper and into his own net. Jones’s protestations that he had been pushed drew no sympathy from Bulgarian referee Georgi Kabakov.
It could have been even worse for United but Romero saved from Mina after another slip by Jones. It was that kind of night for him an United.