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MANCHESTER, England (AP):
EXPENSIVE MEDIOCRITY confirmed: Manchester United’s trophy drought completes a fifth season.
The last path to a title was ended at an Old Trafford now accustomed to let-downs as United were knocked out of the Champions League in a 1-0 loss to Atlético Madrid on Tuesday.
In a tight and tense game, Renan Lodi made the difference by scoring his first goal in the competition in his 25th appearance, meeting Antoine Griezmann’s cross with a header after being left unmarked at the far post by defender Diogo Dalot in the 41st minute.
So often the team’s saviour, 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.
NO GOAL
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 were left relying on defender Raphaël Varane attempting to equalise 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.
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 their game this season, with the team clinging on to fourth place domestically after winning the title last season.
“We wanted to show tonight that we’re a really tough side to play against,” Griezmann said. “We wanted to be at this level more consistently and go forward.”
United go backward, with only two appearances in the Champions League quarter-finals in a decade, in 2014 and 2019.
Not since the 1970s have 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
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