3/10 – Two Manchester United players named ‘flops’ in Atlético defeat, blank ratings to OT duo

Manchester United will finish yet another season without a trophy as their only hope to win silverware this term was crushed on Tuesday when they suffered a 1-0 defeat to Atlético Madrid at Old Trafford.

The first leg in Spain ended in a 1-1 draw last month and the hosts started the return leg on a bright note.

Anthony Elanga, who scored the equaliser in Madrid, came close to giving the Red Devils the lead at home. However, his effort was blocked by Jan Oblak, who had to make a few saves in the first half.

The visitors took the lead in the 41st minute when João Félix’s backheel allowed Antoine Griezmann to setup for Renan Lodi to score a header from the close range. Diogo Dalot was unable to close in on Lodi, who was operating on the left wing.

In the build up to the goal, Elanga was brought down at the other end of the pitch and the Slovenian referee, Slavko Vinčić, decided not to stop the game.

Within a few seconds, in the middle of the pitch, before Rodrigo de Paul made the pass to Félix, Marcos Llorente pushed Fred to the ground. If not for this incident, the Brazilian could have tried to stop the former Udinese man from playing the ball forward to Félix.

Interestingly, the referee chose to ignore these two incidents and the goal was not overturned by VAR. Ralf Rangnick discussed this in his post-match press conference.

Diego Simeone and his men were praised by the Spanish newspapers for securing a place in the Champions League quarter-final.

In their match reports, they have conveniently decided to leave out the potential fouls on United players in the build up to Lodi’s goal.

We take a look at how each paper have rated United players. Marca gave blanks to Harry Maguire and substitute Paul Pogba. Juan Mata, who came off the bench towards the end of the tie was not given any rating.  

The rest, Alex Telles, Scott McTominay, David de Gea, Dalot, Raphaël Varane, Fred, Elanga, Jadon Sancho, Cristiano Ronaldo,  Nemanja Matić, Edinson Cavani and Marcus Rashford received one star from Marca.

Over at Sport, Fred received the highest rating of 7/10 and Ronaldo got the least at 4/10. Matić, Varane, Pogba and De Gea got 6/10, while others were given 5/10.

Moving to France, L’Equipe named Maguire and Telles [both 3/10] as ‘flops’ of the match.

De Gea got the highest rating of 7/10. The second highest, 6/10, was handed out to Varane, Fred, Bruno Fernandes and McTominay. Dalot, Ronaldo, Sancho and Elanga received 5/10.