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

MANCHESTER UNITED RATINGS: David de Gea 6 Dived the right way for Kane’s penalty, but it was a perfect penalty. Wasn’t expecting Maguire to put the ball past him for Spurs’ second. EPA

Diogo Dalot 6 Headed a 26th minute Dier header off the line. Bad challenge on Reguilon on 73, for which he held his hands up. Reuters

Harry Maguire 5 Performed better than last week and involved in an open, thrilling, game. Then he scored an own goal and had Romero screaming in his face in celebration for his troubles. Lad needs a break. EPA

Raphael Varane 7 Started the build up for the opening goal. United’s defence is better with the Frenchman in it. And three important points against a direct rival lifted the move ahead of Tuesday’s key Champions League game against Atletico. Getty

Alex Telles 7 High cross for Ronaldo after 21. Handled the ball to concede Kane’s penalty. Costly error. Hits a decent free-kick/cross and his corner set up Ronaldo for the winner. Getty

Nemanja Matic 7 Lost possession to Hojberg, who shot after 17. Read the line right when Spurs did put the ball in the next a minute after. Superb block to stop a dangerous attack on 29. His looping ball to Sancho would lead to United’s second. EPA

Fred 8 Flicked the ball to set up Ronaldo’s opener, then blocked a Son strike five minutes later before immediately setting up Pogba to shoot. Another key tackle on 41. Good first half. Booked. Fine counter attack at 2-2, fine game. Reuters

Paul Pogba 6 Shot wide as United surged forward again after 16 minutes. Lost the ball and gave a free kick to Spurs soon after. Played centrally in an area where Spurs had more possession…and helped them in their cause more than he’d have liked but while ponderous, could also play a pass to split their defence. Booked. Getty

Marcus Rashford 5 First start in a month, but he had a quiet first half. More involved in the second and hit a cross towards Pogba, but no real threat. First player to come off. Getty

Jadon Sancho 7 Beaten by Kulusevski in the run up to Spurs penalty. Stayed onside to set up Ronaldo for United’s second. Cut inside to shoot on 43. Busy. Lost the ball to set up a Spurs attack on 61. Beaten down the right too many times, but still doing well. Getty

Cristiano Ronaldo 10 Scooped a sixth minute shot over. Then hit a magnificent curling shot past Lloris on 12. Met a Sancho cross to score United’s second on 38. Strike on target from distance on 66, then headed – magnificently – the winner on 82. Old Trafford came alive in song. 807 career goals to become football’s top goalscorer. Of all time. Getty

SUBS: Anthony Elanga On for Rashford on 67. More valuable minutes. EPA

Edinson Cavani On to a roar for Matic after 79. A brave move, but one which quickly paid off as United retook the lead. Getty

Victor Lindelof 5 As Old Trafford roared ‘Viva Ronaldo’, the Swede replaced him on 83 minutes. AP

TOTTENHAM RATINGS: Hugo Lloris – 7 The Frenchman had no chance of keeping out Ronaldo’s terrific strike from outside the box in the opening minutes, but he was twice forced to push away the Portuguese striker’s effort for a hat-trick in the second half. Didn’t have much luck with any of the goals. EPA

Cristian Romero – 5 The Atalanta loanee would have been flagged for offside if he had found Reguilon’s cross, but he’d distracted Maguire just enough to force the United man to convert into his own net for Spurs’ equaliser. Lost his man as Ronaldo climbed highest to claim his hat-trick. Getty

Eric Dier – 6 The centre-back was in the centre of a handball claim in the opening minutes, which VAR denied, but he gave Ronaldo too much space and backed off just after. He nearly got his team level before the half-hour mark, forcing a goal-line clearance from Dalot. Booked. Getty

Ben Davies – 6 The Welshman might have thought he’d scored his first goal of the season when he linked up with Reguilon and Son on the left flank, only to see the linesman raise his flag for offside. AP

Matt Doherty – 6 The former Wolves man was caught ball watching and left Sancho to sprint free to play in Ronaldo before United’s second, before he misjudged Ronaldo for his hat-trick goal. Getty

Rodrigo Bentancur – 6 The former Juventus man looks to be Conte’s first choice in a pairing with Hojbjerg in the centre of midfield. He managed some neat passes, though couldn’t dominate. Saw a first-half shot blocked by Maguire. PA

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg – 7 The Denmark international was busy in midfield, finding several excellent passes and did well to win the ball from Matic in response to United finding their opener, though his resulting shot was weak and straight at De Gea. EPA

Sergio Reguilon – 6 The Spaniard was the only change for Antonio Conte with Ryan Sessegnon sidelined. He appealed for offside in the build-up to Ronaldo’s second, only to find out he was the player keeping Sancho onside. He was later played in by Son, with his resulting cross seeing Maguire find the back of his own net. Booked for a high foot. Reuters

Dejan Kulusevski – 7 The Juventus loanee collected Dier’s blocked free-kick before swiftly bypassing Sancho on the wing and winning a penalty when his cross hit Alex Telles’ arm. Continues to be an excellent addition. EPA

Heung-Min Son – 5 After trying to make something happen for much of the first half to no avail, the Korean had the perfect opportunity to put his side level, but he was unable to adjust and saw his effort go narrowly wide of the post. EPA

Harry Kane – 6 The English forward netted his sixth in five games when he stepped up to the spot and had enough power to squeeze past De Gea, who had guessed the right way. EPA

SUBS: Lucas Moura (Kulusevski 78’) – N/R Attempted a few dribbles but did very little to make an impact. EPA

Harry Winks (Bentancur 88’) – N/R The late substitute lofted a lovely ball into the box for Reguilon in the closing stages. EPA

Steven Bergwijn (Davies 88’) – N/R A late change for Spurs as Conte pushed for a third equalising goal to no avail. Getty

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.