Cristiano Ronaldo spotted fuming at ref at half-time as damning stat emerges from Man Utd’s first 45 minutes vs Atletico

CRISTIANO RONALDO lost his cool with the referee after a dismal first-half for Manchester United at Atletico Madrid.

United trailled 1-0 at the break but were very fortunate it was not worse as Atletico dominated, with Marcos Llorente also hitting the bar.

Cristiano Ronaldo fumed with referee Ovidiu Hategan at half-time

GettyCR7 felt he was being roughed up by the Atletico Madrid defence[/caption]

The Red Devils struggled to get a foothold with Ronaldo quiet and isolated up-front.

Ronaldo expressed his frustration on multiple occasions – at one stage pointing out to his team-mates that three successive crosses had failed to get anywhere near him.

And with the likes of Paul Pogba and Bruno Fernandes uncharacteristically sloppy in possession United posed no attacking threat.

Astonishingly, they failed to make a single touch in the Atletico penalty area in the first-half – it is the first time they have failed to do so in a Champions League match since 2005-06.

So it was no surprise when Ronaldo was spotted raging at the ref as he headed down the tunnel at the break.

The second half did not bring about much improvement but Anthony Elanga did manage to break in behind the Atletico defence to draw his side level.

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Ronaldo continued to struggle after the break and despite his half-time remonstrations with referee Ovidiu Hategan, the Portuguese was denied a free-kick in the dying seconds.

Hategun was quick to blow up for the slightest infringement and dished out nine yellow cards – much to the frustrations of Ronaldo but also the Atletico home crowd.

Ronaldo felt he was being roughed up by Atletico and seemed to have some heated words with centre-back Stefan Savic at one point.

After the match Paul Scholes claimed United were not ready for the physical challenge posed by Atletico and he suggested Ralf Rangnick’s men were bullied at the Wanda Metropolitano.

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