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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Chris Doyle

Cristiano Ronaldo sets Champions League record even though Man Utd crash out of Europe

Cristiano Ronaldo set a new Champions League record as Manchester United crashed out of the Champions League.

Atletico Madrid sealed a 1-0 win (2-1 on aggregate) at Old Trafford as Renan Lodi put the Spanish side through to the quarter-finals. Ronaldo wasn't best pleased with the referee as he was spotted berating him after Atletico Madrid's opener, but when the dust setlles, it was a game in which he made history.

Ronaldo passed Real Madrid legend, Iker Casillas, by playing the most minutes in the history of the Champions League. It's only been a matter of days since the Portuguese officially became the all-time leading scorer in world football with 807 goals to his name.

Rangnick congratulated Ronaldo on his impressive feat in his programme notes before Tuesday night's loss at Old Trafford.

He said: "I would like to congratulate Cristiano on becoming the all-time leading scorer in world football. He has now scored 807 goals plus. I'm certain he will keep adding to that total over the coming weeks and months - hopefully including tonight."

Paul Scholes slammed United after the defeat by Atletico and reckons they would have gone through to the next round with a top class coach like Diego Simeone at the helm. Rio Ferdinand also took aim at his former club for the damaging result.

Scholes said: "How [Ralf Rangnick] was chosen to be manager of this club for six months, I don't know. Getting a proper coach for this team is a massive thing. There's some real talent in this squad. The very first thing this club needs to do to get anywhere near winning the league again is getting in a proper coach who works for this team.

Join the debate! What went wrong for Man Utd against Atletico? Give us your verdict here.

"It comes from leadership. It comes from a coach demanding that from his players and gets that from his players.I don’t want to keep having a go at Ralf Rangnick, he seems really nice and comes across well in interviews, he’s very honest. But, how he was chosen to be manager of this club for six months until the end of the season, I’ll never know. The coach is a massive part of it."

Ferdinand added: "The Atletico team had a group of reliable men that would go out there and do whatever the manager has asked them. They understood the job at hand and worked together as a team."

"Whereas, United are all looking at each other wondering ‘who’s going to pull a magic trick out of the hat? Who’s going to pull us out of danger? Ronaldo did it at the weekend but who’s next?’ It’s not about the team will get us through this, it’s about a moment of brilliance from an individual."

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