Manchester United slumped to a limp defeat in Valencia as Paul Pogba's glaring miss and Phil Jones' own goal ensured they passed up 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 bright 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.
Jose Mourinho's side threw away the chance to avoid Europe's big guns in the next round of the Champions League with an awful showing in Spain.
Manchester United were still in with a shout of finishing at the top of their Champions League group heading to Valencia on Wednesday. As it turned out, a win would have achieved exactly that.
But you wouldn’t have known it watching their performance as they turned in a catastrophically submissive display in a 2-1 defeat which could now consign them to a round-of-16 clash with one of Europe’s giant clubs.
But their result in Spain now dictates that they will be drawn against one of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain and Porto in Monday’s draw rather than teeing up a potentially more favourable last-16 affair.
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