Rio Ferdinand has described Manchester United's misfiring stars as "powderpuff" after they were dumped out of the Champions League round of 16 by Atletico Madrid at Old Trafford.
Renan Lodi's 41st minute header eventually all but ended any hopes the United faithful may have had of ending their five-year trophy drought. Ralf Rangnick's men were left incredibly frustrated with both the result and the officiating throughout the game.
The tie was evenly balanced after a cagey first-leg ended 1-1 courtesy of a late Anthony Elanga equaliser for United after Joao Felix had put Atletico in front at the Wanda Metropolitano. United knew the stakes were high going into the second-leg at Old Trafford.
"I was majorly disappointed but listen Atletico Madrid under Diego Simeone never disappoint," Ferdinand told his YouTube channel FIVE. "We knew what they were going to be when they turn up, you know they are going to be aggressive and cute, you know they are going to slow the game down and con the referee.
"All the dark arts they know down to a t under this manager who you have to say is an unbelievable manager, they ride with the punches and stay in games. They have a togetherness that was always going to get them through when they went a goal up."
Ferdinand went on to reflect on the shortcomings of his former side by explaining: "United were really powderpuff a lot of the time, first-half you could say they played alright but still without really testing the water. Once they went ahead, I really wasn't confident United were going to get back in it and change it around.
"The goal wasn't a surprise, they scored a counter-attack goal that was very similar but was offside. I don't know, there was a lot of things that weren't right - tonight was a carbon copy of a lot of other games we've seen this season."
United have struggled for a consistent run of form all season under both Rangnick and his predecessor Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Ferdinand continued to lambast the current Red Devils players for their inability to string a run of decent performances and results together.
"I keep saying that same saying - Jekyll and Hyde, it was good first half but second half was not so good. The substitutes did not impact the game and I really thought the likes of Rashford, Pogba and Cavani would come on and change the game if need be but none of them had any impact, though we were poor all round."
