Manchester United will end a fifth successive season without a trophy after bowing out of the Champions League at home to Atletico Madrid.
Long since out of the Premier League title race, Ralf Rangnick’s Red Devils saw their final route to silverware slammed shut by Diego Simeone’s wily, well-drilled side on Tuesday evening.
United failed to build on their scarcely-deserved draw in the first leg of this last-16 clash in Spain, with Renan Lodi’s first-half header securing a 1-0 Old Trafford win as Atleti progressed to the quarter-finals.
The 2-1 aggregate exit extinguished any faint hopes of a first piece of silverware since the 2017 Europa League as the Premier League side saw a fifth successive continental campaign end in defeat to Spanish opposition.
United started well enough at a rocking Old Trafford, where Anthony Elanga would have scored his second of the tie was it not for a fortunate Jan Oblak save on a night that the reigning LaLiga champions grew into.
Joao Felix scored a bullet header in the first leg and saw a first-half goal ruled out for offside, shortly before Antoine Griezmann hook a cross to the back post for Lodi to head home.
It was a gut punch that United failed to respond to as Simeone’s side sat deep, soaked up pressure throughout the second half and frustrated the hosts as much as the officials.
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUARTER FINALS, HERE WE GO! pic.twitter.com/BNtXVEK6Qv
— Atlético de Madrid (@atletienglish) March 15, 2022
