Gary Neville was left unsurprised by Manchester United's Champions League exit, after seeing some of the same problems he identified in the weekend victory over Tottenham Hotspur.
United secured a 3-2 win over Spurs on Saturday thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo's hat-trick giving them all three points. However, after a confident pre-match prediction from Atletico Madrid manager DIego Simeone, the Spanish champions won 1-0 at Old Trafford to progress to the quarter-finals in Europe.
Former club captain Neville had refused to get carried away after the weekend victory, identifying issues which he felt "any decent team" would be able to take advantage of. And so it proved as Renan Lodi scored the only goal of the game in Manchester to settle the tie in Atleti's favour.
"I think there's big problems in that dressing room, I really do at this moment in time, between the characters in the dressing room that exist," Neville told Sky Sports after the victory on Saturday. Spurs twice drew level at Old Trafford, with Harry Kane scoring a penalty and Harry Maguire putting through his own net, but each time Ronaldo responded to put the hosts back on top.
"I don't think it's great at all. To be fair, if Tottenham had got one in front at any point in the game you'd have seen it capitulate quite quickly."
United might only have conceded once to Atletico, but it was enough to boot them out of the competition. And it means the only way Ralf Rangnick's side can qualify for next season's Champions League is by chasing down Arsenal to claim a top-four league finish.
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"No surprise last night," Neville tweeted after the elimination. "Any decent team, with organisation and fight are likely to beat this United team. It’s why I couldn’t get excited after Spurs last Saturday because that Spurs performance would will get you beat v a good team. A long road in to the end of May!"
United have nine games left to play in the Premier League. They are one point behind Arsenal in fourth, but Mikel Arteta's team still have three games in hand, beginning with a trip to Liverpool on Wednesday night.
United's home defeat ensured they still haven't got beyond the quarter-finals of the Champions League since reaching the final in 2011. However, interim manager Rangnick took issue with the performance of referee Slavko Vincic in relation to what he considered a foul in the build-up to the winning goal.
"It was hard in the second half and always interrupted. There was always somebody lying on the floor. I would also say some curious refereeing decisions," the former RB Leipzig boss told BT Sport.
"That was a foul for sure on Anthony Elanga but the referee and the linesman didn't see it that way. For me that was the only real moment, and the offside goal, that they scored with.
"Apart from that, we defended well and we were compact in their transition moments. There is nothing I can blame the team for in the first half."
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