Manchester United have only themselves to blame for their Champions League exit, launching their comeback far too late in a 3-2 loss to RB Leipzig.
United only needed a point from their final Group H game to advance to the knockout stage, but left themselves with a mountain to climb, after falling three goals behind the German club.
"We started too late," says coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. "Great spirit and comeback again.
"It's different to the Premier League, you can't give a team a three-goal lead and expect to come back," he adds, after United fought back to win their last two Premier League games against Southampton and West Ham United.
Leipzig led 3-0, until an 80th-minute penalty from Bruno Fernandes and a deflected header from Paul Pogba two minutes later gave United hope.
"We were unlucky towards the end and you almost thought it was in at the last minute there," Solskjaer says of a stoppage-time save by Leipzig keeper Peter Gulacsi.
Solskjaer's team have now lost back-to-back Champions League games.
"Of course, you can't say we were good enough, we weren't," he says. "Today we were close, but we knew we had to defend crosses and balls into the box, and we just couldn't clear them."
Leipzig scored twice in the opening 13 minutes, with the United defence out of position.
"As a footballer, you can't feel sorry for yourself. You feel sorry for a few minutes tonight and then we focus on a massive game on Saturday," Solskjaer says, before United's upcoming match against local rivals Manchester City.
Elsewhere, Juventus humbled Barcelona 3-0 to top Group G, Lazio pipped Brugge into the knockout stages, holding on to a 2-2 draw, and Chelsea's 1-0 against Ferencviros confirmed the English clubs' top spot in their group.
United are now relegated to the Europa League with the other third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage.
