Ralf Rangnick accused the officials of making it “pretty easy” for Atletico Madrid to run down the clock with their “time-wasting antics” as Manchester United tumbled out of the Champions League.
Three weeks on from securing a scarcely-deserved 1-1 draw in Spain, Old Trafford was rocking as the Red Devils attempted to reach the quarter-finals for just the third time in a decade.
But a bright United start petered out and Renan Lodi put Atleti ahead as half-time approached, with Diego Simeone’s wily, well-drilled side sitting deep and keeping the hosts at bay in a scoreless second half.
The 1-0 win secured the Spanish side’s progress to the quarter-finals and interim boss Rangnick could not hide his frustration with referee Slavko Vincic afterwards.
“I think we played a good first half,” the German said. “All those things that we planned to do in that first half the team did.
“The only thing that we didn’t achieve is convert that energetic performance into the first goal and against a team like Atletico it’s highly important you score the first goal yourself.
“If you don’t do that, then it’s even more important not to concede a goal and we conceded just before half-time that goal in a transitional moment.
“I believe there was a foul on Anthony Elanga before that, but the referee and linesman didn’t see it that way. That’s why we were 1-0 down at half-time.
“I think we shouldn’t have been 1-0 down at half-time. We were the better team in the first half but, as I said, it’s important to score first, 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 with someone lying on the floor.
“I think there were some curious refereeing decisions – I wouldn’t necessarily say they were decisive, maybe the one before they scored.
“But I think he made it pretty easy for Atletico to do their time-wasting antics and that didn’t make it any easier for us.
“It was frustrating, difficult for us in the second half. We tried everything.
“We had two or three moments after set pieces but from normal play we didn’t create that many chances.”
Rangnick did not believe his team showed naivety in the second half, saying Atletico are probably “the champions of that style of football” as he highlighted that it is not easy to “break through that wall”.
United’s five changes could not bring about an equaliser as their final route to silverware ended, leaving them to focus on their uphill battle for a top-four finish.
“It’s unusual to not play a single game in two-and-a-half weeks, even more so in this league when you play every three days,” Rangnick said.
“We have 85 per cent of the squad on international duty and most of them only coming back Tuesday and Wednesday, so in the end we will (have) three days in order to prepare for the Leicester game.
“In the league the situation is pretty clear – out of those nine games, we have to win most of those nine games.
“For sure we have to win at Arsenal but the only way to finish fourth at the end is to win most of those nine games.”
Atletico fans’ celebrations could be heard in the background as the press conferences got under way at Old Trafford, where objects were thrown at Simeone as he ran straight down the tunnel at full-time.
“When I came off the pitch, I ran because I was happy and I like to enjoy it in the dressing room, so I don’t know what happened (with objects being thrown at me),” the Atleti boss said.
“All I was thinking about was getting into the changing room to the dressing room, and I was really happy.
“We managed to hit them on the counter and hurt them. That gave us a positive result.
“In the second half, we continued to control the game. And we felt more comfortable – we know that our opponent play well on the counter attack, so we tried to reduce spaces.
“Collectively, there was some great effort put in by our centre-backs and it was a collective performance. I didn’t really have to make changes because the work was so good collectively today.”
