MANCHESTER: Expensive mediocrity confirmed — Manchester United’s trophy drought completes a fifth season.

The last path to a title was ended at an Old Trafford now accustomed to letdowns as United were knocked out of the Champions League in a 1-0 loss to Atletico Madrid on Tuesday.

In a tight and tense game, Renan Lodi made the difference by scoring his first goal in the competition in his 25th appearance, meeting Antoine Griezmann’s cross with a header after being left unmarked at the far post by defender Diogo Dalot in the 41st minute.

“I wasn’t playing a few months ago, but everything has changed now and I’m very happy with that,” the 23-year-old left wing-back Lodi said. “It’s a tough role. I’m working at it, learning.”

So often the team’s saviour, David de Gea was beaten. The goalkeeper feels the pain more, being the only starter still in the team from the end of the trophy-filled Alex Ferguson era in 2013.

“Of course its not good enough,” De Gea said.“Its hard for the club, for us and the fans. This is where we are at the moment. It is a difficult situation, but we have to keep fighting.”

Cristiano Ronaldo departed Old Trafford before Ferguson retired and the malaise kicked in. The 37-year-old star returned this season after collecting trophies at Real Madrid and Juventus to be the difference-maker.

Rather than dazzling, as he did with Saturday’s hat-trick against Tottenham Hotspur, Ronaldo didn’t manage a single shot against the Spanish champions.

Instead, United were left relying on defender Raphael Varane attempting to equalise in the second half, and his header was kept out by Jan Oblak. United could find no way past the goalkeeper three weeks after a 1-1 draw in Madrid that counted for nothing with away-goals no longer carrying an advantage.

Atletico showed the blueprint to grab a win away, by scoring from one of only three shots on target.

We want to go far in the competition and it’s incredible to still be in it. It’s important for us to still be in the Champions League in what’s an up-and-down season,” said midfielder Koke.

Europe is the platform for Atletico to raise their game this season, with the team clinging onto fourth place domestically after winning the title last season.

“We wanted to show tonight that were a really tough side to play against,” Griezmann said. “We wanted to be at this level more consistently and go forward.”

United go backwards, with only two appearances in the Champions League quarter-finals in a decade, in 2014 and 2019.

Not since the 1970s have United gone as long without a trophy with the second-tier Europa League in 2017 the last honour for, historically at least, English football’s most successful club.

There’s not much to show for more than $1 billion in transfer spending since the two-time Champions League winner Ferguson retired as manager nine years ago.

Such is the instability at United that its an interim coach in Ralf Rangnick who has presided over United’s exits from the FA Cup and Champions League early in 2022.

We were fully aware that against this team you need to score the first goal yourself,” said Rangnick.

Now the priority is just regaining the fourth spot in the Premier League to return to the Champions League next season for whoever is in charge of United.

A potential full-time successor to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who United fired in December, is Erik ten Hag whose Ajax team were also eliminated in Tuesday’s other last-16 second leg.

Striker Darwin Nunez headed home a 77th-minute winner as Benfica grabbed a shock 1-0 victory away at Ajax in Amsterdam to advance 3-2 on aggregate.

The Uruguayan striker rose above the Ajax defence to score from a free kick in a rare attack for the Portuguese club, who put up a stout defensive performance at the Johan Cruyff Arena.

Benfica’s veteran centre back pair of Jan Vertonghen and Nicolas Otamendi were a defensive wall that Ajax were unable to break down, despite dominating possession and constantly attacking the visitors’ goal to waste a perfect campaign in the group stage.

Ten Hag said he was hoping for a moment of magic in the end, but it never happened.

“Our positional play was excellent,” he said. “We were very good on the ball. I gave my players a big compliment. Maybe only the creativity was lacking. So its bitter that one moment of inattention means you’re eliminated.”

Ajax were one of three teams that won all six group-stage matches, along with Liverpool and Bayern Munich. But while their hopes of an extended run came to an end, two-time European Cup winners Benfica — who have had a poor domestic season and flounder 12 points from the summit of the Portuguese league — look forward to Friday’s draw for the quarter-finals.

We are among the eight best teams in Europe. The team worked so hard to achieve this against really difficult opponents,” said Benfica coach Nelson Verissimo.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2022