Ralf Rangnick accused the Slovenian referee Slavko Vincic of making it 'easy' for Atletico Madrid to waste time in their Champions League victory over Manchester United.
United were eliminated in a 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford through Renan Lodi's first-half header but the United players, staff and supporters were constantly agitated by Vincic's officiating.
Rangnick felt United were the better side in the first-half but said the second-half did not go two minutes 'without being interrupted by someone lying on the floor' yet only four minutes of added time were signalled.
Read more: United player ratings vs Atletico
"I think we played a good first-half," Rangnick said. "All those things that we planned to do in the first-half the team did, the only thing we didn't achieve is to convert that energetic performance into the first goal, and against a team like Atletico it's highly important you score the first goal and it's more important not to concede a goal and we conceded just before half-time.
"That goal, in a transitional moment, I believe it was a foul on Anthony Elanga, the referee and linesman didn't see it that way. We shouldn't have been 1-0 down at half-time, we were the better team in the first-half. It's important to score first and even more so against a team like Atletico.
"In the second-half, I don't know if the game was played for more than two minutes without being interrupted by someone lying on the floor, there were some curious refereeing decisions, I wouldn't necessarily say decisive, maybe the one they scored.
"He (the referee) made it pretty easy for Atletico to do their time-wasting antics and it didn't make it any easier for us. That's how they play for the last 10 years, they always play like that. I was not surprised."
