Cristiano Ronaldo's fading powers cannot halt Manchester United's Champions League slide

Tame last-16 defeat to Atletico Madrid symptomatic of Old Trafford giants' long decline into also-rans

MANCHESTER UNITED RATINGS: David de Gea 6 Saved from De Paul on 14 minutes. Beaten by a good header from Lodi for Atletico’s opener. Nervously hit a ball out after 51 which invited a shot. EPA

Diogo Dalot 5 Bright, aggressive start down the right as United attacked. Shot blocked by Gimenez. Even better effort on target after 25. Spun a shot wide after 83. PA

Harry Maguire 4 Exposed, pulled left and right by opponents. Nervy start to the second half when he overhit a cross, then twisted and played the ball back to De Gea. Some of the crowd cheered when he was substituted. EPA

Raphael Varane 7 Calm, but work cut out against foes who had a smarter game plan. Header was well saved by Oblak on 77, but it was an awful match for United to play in against a cynical team with a referee who did nothing for the home team. Reuters

Alex Telles 5 Turned into his man and lost possession on 31. Ball came in for Atletico’s opener from his side, as it had for their disallowed goal. Suspect when defending. Getty

Fred 7 Replicated a famous move by Real Madrid player Redondo at Old Trafford in a bright United start. Moved around, broke up play, energetic. EPA

Scott McTominay 5 Atletico won the ball from him to set up their best first half attack. Tough against Koke who started many of Atletico’s attacks. Tough against better players. PA

Jadon Sancho 5 Blasted a cross over after 59. Not as effective as in recent games. Nowhere near. Ran into opponents too many times. Bought to shine in these games. Didn’t. Reuters

Bruno Fernandes 5 Crossed to Elanga after 12 and buzzed around behind Ronaldo. Fine shot on 45. Neat free-kick towards the far post on 66, then brought off. Still far from sharp. Getty

Anthony Elanga 5 United’s first serious effort on goal after 12 and then shot wide. That was as good as it got for the Swede. AFP

Cristiano Ronaldo 6 Charged up against a team he’s damaged more than any other in his career. Ran back to tackle on 37 and a roar went up. Worked around the area. Tired and couldn’t beat a man in a 76th minute attack. Reuters

SUBS: Marcus Rashford 5 On for Elanga on 66 in a triple substitution. Gave the ball away after 87 to allow Atleti to counter attack. Getty

Nemanja Matic 6 On for McTominay on 66. Booked. Carried the ball forward but met a wall of blue shirts. Moved to defence as United threw men forward, with little effect. Reuters

Paul Pogba 5 On for Fernandes on 66. Couldn’t land a punch on the Spaniards. Getty

Edinson Cavani 5 On for Fred after 75. Bluster and effort with no end result, like the rest of the players. Getty

Juan Mata 5 On for Maguire after 83. A rare sight. Tried to find pockets of space. Getty

ATLETICO MADRID RATINGS: Jan Oblak, 9 – It was a man-of-the-match display from Madrid’s No 1 as his parade of world-class saves won the day for the visitors. Getty

Stefan Savic, 8 – His outstanding commitment was matched only by the timing he showed with his tackling. Getty

Jose Gimenez, 8 – Wonderful timing, consistent going forward rarely let anything get past him at Old Trafford. AFP

Reinildo Mandava, 8 – A string of sublime blocks and challenges served as proof of why Reinildo is so underrated. AFP

Hector Herrera, 7 – Overly eager at times but had solid enough distribution in the middle of the park. Getty

Marcos Llorente, 7 – Worked a lot harder in the second half to make up for a questionable first 45 minutes down the flank. AFP

Rodrigo De Paul, 8 – Played a lovely role in the goal, was physical from the first minute, regularly stole the ball and came close to scoring in the opening quarter-of-an-hour. AFP

Koke, 7 – Good passing, released the ball well and had the kind of movement required for a match of this pace. AP

Renan Lodi, 8 – Made up for a slow start to proceedings with a well-timed header to win the tie for the visitors. PA

Antoine Griezmann, 5 – Was absent throughout the course of the game and didn’t bring much to his team’s attack. AFP

Joao Felix, 7 – Provided a great cross for the winner to cancel out what was a fairly uninspiring yet gutsy performance. PA

SUB: Geoffrey Kondogbia, N/A – Spooned the ball over the bar and ultimately didn’t do a whole lot to assist his side in the last 10 minutes. Getty

SUB: Felipe, N/A – Barely got the chance to get going but managed to help Atletico edge over the finish line. Reuters

SUB: Angel Correa, N/A – Helped to kill some time in the final third in what proved to be a relatively brief cameo. AFP

The last time Manchester United won a Champions League quarter-final or semi-final, Ralf Rangnick was at Old Trafford.

Admittedly, he was present at the 2011 semi-final as coach of the beaten Schalke side. The fact that is 11 years ago illustrates that United’s underachievement in Europe predates the interim manager, and actually began before the end of Sir Alex Ferguson’s reign.

The eventual verdict on Rangnick’s temporary regime may be that he neither caused the problems nor solved them. For a fifth successive season, United will end up without silverware. For the fifth in nine, they could finish outside the top four.

Their malaise is deep-rooted and yet too many of their own are blinded to it. Since the group stages, and despite all evidence to the contrary, Rio Ferdinand, Peter Schmeichel and Paul Ince had all claimed United could win the Champions League.

Being United alone, being rich and famous and spending fortunes on superstar players, does not qualify anyone for glory.

The reality is that they have only won one knockout game in it in eight seasons, the same number as Basel. However much substance gripes about refereeing and timewasting had, Atletico Madrid were the better team over 180 minutes.

Predictably, they were the more coherent one. That even an Atletico side whose La Liga title defence has been underwhelming were too good was unsurprising: United have one point from four games against England’s top three.

They can call themselves the world’s biggest club, but they are ever further from being or beating the best.

There were snapshots of the modern United. There was a booking for Darren Fletcher, the technical director who was on the touchline but of whom Rangnick said recently that he didn’t really know what his role was.

There was the sight of the so-called "godfather of gegenpressing" sending on Juan Mata to join Cristiano Ronaldo; they are two of the players least likely to press while Mata, who has not been granted a minute of Premier League action this season, was somehow charged with saving United’s Champions League campaign. He didn’t.

Meanwhile, it felt another staging post in Ronaldo’s decline. Part of that is the inevitability of ageing, part the failures of United. Over 180 minutes, the long-time scourge of Atletico mustered two shots, neither on target and neither at Old Trafford.

Manchester United 3 Tottenham Hotspur 2 - player ratings

He used to be irrepressible on such occasions but he has become ineffectual. Saturday’s stunning hat-trick against Tottenham looks the anomaly in his 2022.

Ronaldo had dragged United through the group stages with six goals and sheer willpower. Perhaps, however, the telling part is when his impact came.

He has a record 67 goals in the knockout phase, but none this season or last. For the third consecutive year, his campaign is curtailed before the quarter-finals. An era is ending, for him and Lionel Messi alike.

More so than United, Juventus signed Ronaldo to win the Champions League but each has proof he is no longer as devastating.

He is arguably the greatest player in the competition’s history, certainly since the rebrand in the 1990s, but his 2018 triumph, in his valedictory game for Real Madrid, will be his last.

Perhaps Ronaldo’s Champions League career ended in anti-climax on Tuesday. United are not guaranteed to be in it next season. Perhaps he will not be there.

Indeed, it is hard to say who will be. Rangnick will not be in the dugout. In the future, it may seem strange to reflect that Fred and Anthony Elanga were the only success stories of a Champions League knockout tie for United.

The broader context is that it has been, in David de Gea’s words, “another bad year.” Yet another.