Andries Jonker’s side had needed to win by any scoreline other than 1-0 in Switzerland to secure a place in the play-offs for youth football’s equivalent of the Champions League and had a strong side to do just that, with familiar names around the first team including Krystian Bielik, Stephy Mavididi and Jeff Reine-Adelaide in the starting XI.
Eddie Nketiah, the 17-year-old striker who has been training with the first team over recent weeks, gave Arsenal hope of qualification in the closing minutes of the match but Basel equalised in the closing minutes as their visitors chased the second goal they needed, Martin Liechti converting to secure his side’s qualification.
Paris St Germain had already topped Group A and wrapped up an undefeated campaign with a 4-1 win over Ludogorets Razgrad.
The young guns failure to make it out of the group stage means only one of England’s four representatives have made it beyond the ‘Champions League path’ in Europe’s premier youth competition.
Manchester City will need to win a playoff before their participation in the knockout stage is guaranteed.
Tottenham’s exit from the Youth League was confirmed after they lost 2-1 away to Monaco last week and currently stand bottom of their group, as do Leicester, who like Spurs have just one win to their name from five games.
