"The last few years have been outstanding [in the Champions League]," the manager told reporters after his side lost 2-1 at last 16 qualifiers Basel and finished third in Group C, won by Benfica.
"It's our loss because it's the best tournament in the world, it's a marvellous tournament."
"It's a competition I've never been in with United, it means a lot of Sunday games and that's not ideal. That's our penalty for not qualifying tonight."
He added: "We let ourselves down badly."
However, he had experience of the old European Cup Winners' Cup which he won with Aberdeen in 1983 and United in 1991.
"Of course we're disappointed, there's no other way you can feel," he said. "We had so much possession up to the last third of the field, some of our play up to that point was very good, you have to say our finishing let us down.
"We have good young players, I have trust in my young players," he said.
"That's part of football. You have to deal with disappointment, it's been used as a motivation many times.
"These young players will feel the disappointment, they are going to have to cope with it and go on with their careers."
"This has certainly not done my career ambitions any harm at all," said the German, who is still in a caretaker role until the end of the year.
"He congratulated me for the victory and wished me all the luck for the last 16," Vogel said.
