‘Beto’ Santos after scoring Benfica’s second goal against Manchester United in Lisbon on Wednesday. (Reuters)

Paris: Sir Alex Ferguson would be forgiven for taking a long hard look at his star-studded Manchester United side in the wake of their failure to qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League for the first time in nearly a decade.

After what has been a dramatic year for the club, Ferguson will now look to regain the confidence of the fans who watched in frustration as a decisive 1-2 defeat to Benfica capped their hugely disappointing group campaign.

Benfica, now under the leadership of former Holland and Barcelona great Ronald Koeman, had threatened to make life hell for visiting United, and that was exactly what they did before finishing second in the group behind Spanish surprise package Villarreal, who beat French minnows Lille 1-0 on the night.

Forget that the Portuguese champions have been approached about providing the opposition to United in a benefit match for recently deceased club legend George Best. Whether that match goes through or not, United will not approach it with ease.

Paul Scholes gave the English team a sixth-minute lead but Benfica replied with a header from striker Geovanni and Beto fired home a deflected winner before halftime. The eventual defeat meant United finished bottom of group D with only one win and three draws from six games. It was hardly a surprise that Ferguson was unforgiving of his players.

“It was a good start but if you give away possession the way we did, you have only yourselves to blame. That was the main problem and it is very disappointing,” the Scot said.

Following Villarreal’s win, a draw would have seen United through to the last 16 but they are now out of Europe altogether. A third-place finish in the group would have qualified them for at least the Uefa Cup.

For a team which has been one of the standard-bearers for the English game in Europe over the past 10 years, it proved a massive blow to be out of the competition, especially as bitter Premiership rivals Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool are all through.

United had failed to make it past the last 16 in the past two seasons, but in previous campaigns ? apart from their triumph in 1999 ? they had made it to at least the semi-finals or quarter finals stage, stretching back to the 1996-97 season when eventual winners Borussia Dortmund ousted them with a 2-0 defeat.

Now United, who were bought by the Glazer family in the off-season, are facing another season without a trophy, and further questions will be asked of Ferguson’s role in the team.