Champions League: We did not deserve top spot - Irwin

Denis Irwin admits Manchester United did not deserve to win their Champions League group following their 1-1 draw with Lille.

The point in Lens' Stade Felix-Bollaert, coupled with Deportivo La Coruna's 1-1 draw against Olympiakos, means United go into Friday's draw for the second phase as runners-up in Group G.

United had wanted to beat Lille to claim first place from Deportivo because that would have meant they would have been in pot one along with the other top seeds for the draw in Geneva.

However, Irwin confesses that United's understrength side, which was missing nine regulars, did not perform well enough to deserve all three points.

"We wanted to come first in the group, but I don't think we played well enough to come first," he said.

"We had to defend for a long time and we didn't play that well. They put in a lot of long balls, a bit like an English side, but we've got to give them credit for keeping going.

"However, we're disappointed and I don't think we were ever in control of the game. We're going to have a tough, tough group now in the next stage, but we knew that anyway."

United will face two group winners and another runner-up in the second stage.