Manchester United vs Atletico Madrid LIVE: Champions League result, final score, reaction as United crash out
Manchester United 0-1 Atletico Madrid (agg 1-2): Relive the reaction from Old Trafford as Manchester United crashed out of the Champions League
Manchester United crashed out of the Champions League as Atletico Madrid triumphed 1-0 at Old Trafford to record a 2-1 aggregate win and advance to the quarter-finals.
Old Trafford demanded a classic European night, but only got a vintage Atletico performance, to produce another dismally routine Champions League exit for the Red Devils.
Their season is good as over after this 1-0 defeat, courtesy of Renan Lodi’s first-half header, bar a needlessly panicked chase for a place in the competition next season.
If they manage that, it will need immense changes for that to be anything other than yet another forgettable exit. This is a shadow of the club it should be, as a night like this proved. There was no grand-stand comeback, no great display from Cristiano Ronaldo. He was a ghost, but one of many. His psychological hold over Atletico is broken, to go with so much in the United team.
Atletico, for all the intensity of their celebration, didn’t really require the same intensity to their display. They had too much nous for United, too much Champions League experience.
Follow reaction as Manchester United take on Atletico Madrid:
Man Utd 0 - 0 Atletico Madrid (1-1 agg)
18 mins: Bruno Fernandes and Antoine Griezmann collide with each other in the middle of the pitch. There’s no foul from Fernandes but Griezmann stays down and the referee stops play.
United win the drop ball but Fred loses it and Atleti work it over to the left side of the pitch. Renan Lodi drives forward but gets tackled by Dalot who comes away with the ball.
Man Utd 0 - 0 Atletico Madrid (1-1 agg)
15 mins: Chance! Diogo Dalot shimmies around Koke on the right side and whips the ball into the box where Anthony Elanga gets to it first. He meets the pass inside the six-yard box and guides it at goal only to strike Jan Oblak in the face, The goalkeeper has no time to react as it hits him and bounces clear!
Save! At the other end Rodrigo de Paul fancies himself from range and drill one towards the Man Utd goal. He strikes it brilliantly and focres David De Gea into a leaping save to his right!
Man Utd 0 - 0 Atletico Madrid (1-1 agg)
12 mins: Slow build-up from Atletico Madrid sees them work the ball nicely down the right wing where Marcos Llorente comes forward on the overlap. He brings the ball to the byline and pulls it back towards Antoine Griezmann but the pass comes behind him and Scott McTominay clears the danger!
Man Utd 0 - 0 Atletico Madrid (1-1 agg)
9 mins: Man Utd win the first corner of the game but it’s defended well by the visitors. Theses early exchanges have all been won by Man Utd and Atleti have found themselves defending deep in their own half.
Rodrigo de Paul intercepts a cross from Alex Telles on the left and boots his clearance up towards Joao Felix. David De Gea comes flying out of his box and beats the forward to the loose ball knocking it back down the pitch for United.
The home side seem to be playing with real confidence.
Man Utd 0 - 0 Atletico Madrid (1-1 agg)
6 mins: A cross field pass comes out to Jadon Sancho on the left wing. He controls it and feeds Alex Telles forward on the overlap. Telles takes the ball past Marcos Llorente but sends his cross out of play.
It’s been a bright start for Manchester United.
Man Utd 0 - 0 Atletico Madrid (1-1 agg)
3 mins: Bruno Fernandes makes a run through the lines and tries to bring the ball down as it comes over the top of the Atleti defence. He fails the bring it under control and the ball bounces out for a goal kick.
United come again after the restart with Diogo Dalot bringing the ball down the right side. He swings a good cross into middle of the box. Jan Oblak is stood on his heels and reacts late. Anthony Elanga leaps into the air and jumps into the goalkeeper as his headed effort goes over the crossbar!
Man Utd 0 - 0 Atletico Madrid (1-1 agg)
Kick off: Atletico Madrid get the game underway after a short delay. They knock it down the left wing but it bounces through to Diogo Dalot who passes it across to David De Gea in goal.
Man Utd vs Atletico Madrid
Here come the teams. There’s a great atmosphere inside of Old Trafford. It’s feels like an important night for Manchester United. Can they defeat Atletico Madrid and reach the Champions League quarter-finals?
Man Utd vs Atletico Madrid
Ralf Rangnick spoke to BT Sport before kick off and gave his thoughts on Antoine Griezmann returning to the starting XI. He said:
We are fully aware that we need both the team and the fans on top form. We need to be ready and be on a high energetic level right from the start of the game.
“It was about fresh legs but also to play at a high level of aggression and energy and that’s why I started with this team.
“Antoine Griezmann is not much different to Angel Correa. They always ask for the ball in short spaces so we have to be aware of that.”
How Cristiano Ronaldo showed he can be Manchester United’s star within a system
Naturally, it was all about Cristiano Ronaldo. It often is, to be honest, but especially when he scores a late winner, especially when that late winner completes a hat-trick, and especially when that hat-trick helps him move clear as the highest-scoring player of all time in the record books.
There was something about Ronaldo even before kick-off on Saturday. You could see it in the way he was striking the ball during the pre-match warm up. Even when one of his practice shots from range pinged back off the post, it did so with the same venom that he had put into it, the same menace he was about to put into his performance.
Whether that was because of the week he’d just had - the Manchester derby no-show, the scepticism over his hip injury, the sudden and seemingly unsolicited trip to Portugal - only Ronaldo really knows. His manager could sense that something was coming in the first full training session back on Thursday.
How Cristiano Ronaldo showed he can be Manchester United’s star within a system
Ronaldo’s stunning hat-trick against Tottenham ensured the attention was, once again, on him - but this was not a display of an individualist
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