MANCHESTER, March 16: The last path to a title was ended at an Old Trafford now accustomed to letdowns as United was knocked out of the Champions League in a 1-0 loss to Atlético Madrid on Tuesday.
In a tight and tense game, it was United defender Diogo Dalot leaving Renan Lodi unmarked at the far post to head in Antoine Griezmann’s cross that made the difference in the 41st minute.
So often the team’s savior, David de Gea was beaten. The goalkeeper feels the pain more, being the only starter still in the team from the end of the trophy-filled Alex Ferguson era in 2013.
“Of course it’s not good enough,” De Gea said.
“It’s hard for the club, for us and the fans. This is where we are at the moment. It is a difficult situation, but we have to keep fighting.”
Cristiano Ronaldo departed Old Trafford before Ferguson retired and the malaise kicked in. The 37-year-old star returned this season – after collecting trophies at Real Madrid and Juventus – to be the difference-maker.
Rather than dazzling, as he did with Saturday’s hat trick against Tottenham, Ronaldo didn’t manage a single shot against the Spanish champions.
Instead, United was left relying on defender Raphaël Varane attempting to equalize in the second half, and his header was kept out by Jan Oblak. United could find no way past the goalkeeper three weeks after a 1-1 draw in Madrid that counted for nothing with away-goals no longer carrying an advantage.
Atlético showed the blueprint to grab a win away, by scoring from one of only three shots on target.
Diego Simeone, a two-time Champions League runner-up, leads Atlético back into the quarter-finals like in 2020. Europe is the platform for Atlético to raise its game this season, with the team clinging onto fourth place domestically after winning the title last season.
United goes backward, with only two appearances in the Champions League quarter-finals in a decade, in 2014 and 2019.
Not since the 1970s has United gone as long without a trophy with the second-tier Europa League in 2017 the last honour for, historically at least, English football’s most successful club.
There’s not much to show for more than USD 1 billion in transfer spending since the two-time Champions League winner Ferguson retired as manager nine years ago.
Such is the instability at United that it’s an interim coach in Ralf Rangnick who has presided over United’s exits from the FA Cup and Champions League early in 2022.
Now the priority is just regaining the fourth spot in the Premier League to return to the Champions League next season for whoever is in charge of United.
A potential full-time successor to Ole Gunnar Solskjær, who United fired in December, is Erik ten Hag whose Ajax team was also eliminated in Tuesday’s other last-16 second leg. Darwin Núñez’s goal gave Benfica a 1-0 win in Amsterdam to advance 3-2 on aggregate.
Núñez scored late and Benfica reached the quarter-finals for the first time in six years.
Núñez found the net with a 77th-minute header. (AP)
