Intro:

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson blamed himself for his team's Europa League scare against Ajax.

The Reds lost 2-1 to Ajax at Old Trafford on Thursday, but still advanced 3-2 on aggregate to book a last-16 date with Athletic Bilbao.

Script:

SOUNDBITE (English)

SUPER CAPTION: Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United manager

"I've got to accept responsibility tonight because playing so many young players in the back four positions was a big ask. I thought with a two nothing lead it was a great opportunity to give (Chris) Smalling and (Phil) Jones a game, because they'd been out for such a long time. Great potential they have, but they weren't a big problem, it was just the lack of experience at times of pushing up and tightening up the game created a problem for us, and for a European night it was maybe just too much of a risk, but we survived it with a bit of luck. We didn't really play well in the second half. The first half was quite open. They got a break I thought with a handball for the first goal, but a break they probably deserved because they played very well, played very good football. They are where they are, they are nice footballers, so it was a nervy night."

SOUNDBITE (English)

SUPER CAPTION: Frank de Boer, Ajax coach

"Yes I had a feeling, also my colleague that there was more to gain here. You have to have the feeling as a team that there was the possibility to get a very good result here and I think that we didn't do that enough, especially first half. Also was the same strategy how they played and I think we were very unsecure in passes and not difficult passes, just easy passes. Also what lead to the first goal, a very unsecure pass from (Aras) Ozbilic in the beginning, and also bad defending. So I had really the feeling that we could play our game quite well and I think that we didn't do that enough."