Manchester United Expelled From Champions League After Losing To Atletico Madrid: Cristiano Ronaldo Appears 95 Minutes, 0 Shot

Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo. (Photo: Twitter/@ManUtd)

JAKARTA - Manchester United were eliminated from the 2021/2022 Champions League after losing 0-1 to Atletico Madrid in the second leg of the last 16. With this result, Atletico qualified for the next round with a 2-1 aggregate.

In this match, Atletico's only goal was scored by Renan Lodi in the 41st minute. He managed to use Antoine Griezmann's cross to beat Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea.

Before the match, Manchester United had high hopes for Cristiano Ronaldo. Understandably, the 37-year-old has just scored a hat-trick against Tottenham Hotspur in the domestic competition.

However, that expectation did not match the expectation. Cristiano Ronaldo actually appeared bleak in this match.

Appearing for 95 minutes, the former Juventus and Real Madrid player did not once release a shot to threaten the Atletico Madrid goal which was escorted by Jan Oblak! According to Opta data, this is the third time in his career that Ronaldo in the Champions League has failed to fire a single shot after playing more than 90 minutes.

0 - For only the third time in his Champions League career, Cristiano Ronaldo tonight played 90+ minutes in a match in the competition without having a single shot; the others were for Man Utd v Panathinaikos in November 2003, and for Real Madrid v Barcelona in May 2011. Blank. pic.twitter.com/zTCG9e4Scg

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 15, 2022

Meanwhile, Manchester United has failed three times in a row in the Champions League knockout stages when they drew in the first leg. Previously they were eliminated by Real Madrid (2012/2013), Bayern Munich (2013/2014), and Sevilla (2017/2018).

Atletico is the only team in Champions League history to have eliminated the English champions in the knockout stages. Apart from Manchester United, the other victims were Chelsea (2013/2014) and Liverpool (2019/2020).

Line-up: Manchester United (4-2-3-1): David de Gea; Diogo Dalot, Raphael Varane, Harry Maguire (Juan Mata 84'), Alex Telles; Scott McTominay (Nemanja Matic 67'), Fred (Edinson Cavani 75'); Anthony Elanga (Marcus Rashford 67'), Bruno Fernandes (Paul Pogba 67'), Jadon Sancho; Cristiano Ronaldo.

Atletico Madrid (3-1-4-2): Jan Oblak; Stefan Savic, Jose Gimenez, Reinaldo; Hector Herrera; Marcos Llorente, Koke (Geoffrey Kondogbia 80'), Rodrigo De Paul, Renan Lodi; Antoine Griezmann (Angel Correa 90'), Joao Felix (Felipe 90').