Rio Ferdinand says Champions League defeat to Atletico Madrid summed up this season for Manchester United in comments made off-air duties with BT Sport.
Having seen their Premier League title dreams descend into tatters by the November break, the Old Trafford side can no longer win a trophy after they crashed out of the marquee European competition. It means they have now gone five years without picking up any silverware.
Atletico booked their place in the last-8 when Renan Lodi settled the scores. His winner came after Joao Felix and Anthony Elanga had traded blows in the first leg at the fearsome Wanda Metropolitano.
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A solitary top-four target remains for Ralf Rangnick and United this campaign. However, fellow contenders Arsenal are in pole position for that objective as Ferdinand moves to explain what has gone wrong at Old Trafford.
Jadon Sancho, Raphael Varane and Cristiano Ronaldo were signed as part of a triple statement of intent during the summer transfer window. However, it has been a season of regression and key figures in the boardroom have yet to appoint a permanent successor to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Fellow BT Sport pundit Owen Hargreaves said to presenter Jake Humphrey: "Are we being too negative?", to which Ferdinand responded: "Nothing would please me more than to be positive and screaming and when United do something good I'm the loudest to scream and shout in the studio or on social media.
"But you can't sit here and not say what you see, that's what our job is as pundits.
"You can't say United played well and were super consistent over the 90 minutes and, for the last few months, they haven't been.
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"We have to be true to ourselves as pundits and last night was a perfect example of where United are. Some good moments, some not-so-good moments - and some moments where you put your hands over your eyes. It perfectly encapsulated what United have been like this season."
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