Atlético 2-0 Man Utd: 53 seconds, then the same story

Update (30 Oct): Yoro's red card meant a one-game European ban, and he missed the 4-1 defeat at Como, where United conceded inside two minutes again. They're now 21st in the Champions League table on three points, with Roma at Old Trafford on Tuesday. Martínez's post-match comments are covered in our piece on his apology.

Carrick spent Monday telling anyone who'd listen that a reaction was coming. It lasted 53 seconds, or 47 depending on whose clock you trust.

Pablo Barrios scored before most of the away end had found their seats, Leny Yoro was sent off with 16 minutes left, and Ademola Lookman finished it. Atlético Madrid 2, United 0. It could have been worse, and on another night it might have been closer, but nobody who watched it came away thinking United deserved anything.

The goal that set the tone

Replay the opener and you'll see the whole night in ten seconds. Lee Kang-in found Álex Baena in acres of space down United's left. Nobody went to him as he drove into the box. On the other side, Barrios was running through completely alone. Baena squared it, the shot clipped Ayden Heaven, and in it went.

Sid Lowe, reporting for the Guardian, put it bluntly: on the left, in the middle and on the right, "no one was really there".

Barrios held up six fingers for his captain Koke, whose mother had died hours before kick-off. The place went up. From there, Atlético never really looked like losing.

United had chances. That's the frustrating part

This wasn't a total wipeout. Bryan Mbeumo had two clear sights of goal in the first half. The first went wide after some lovely footwork on the right; the second, after a one-two with Youri Tielemans, was saved by Jan Oblak. Carlos Baleba headed the resulting corner straight at him.

Bruno Fernandes had the best chance of the lot early in the second half. Tielemans found him, the ball sat up, Oblak came charging, and our captain lifted it past the keeper and wide. Later he hit the bar.

Score one of those and it's a different game. Score none and you get what we got. United missed four big chances on the night, their most in a Champions League game since a defeat at Galatasaray in September 2012.

Atlético could have had four

Atlético had 66% of the ball by half-time. Álex Grimaldo smacked a free-kick off the bar, Johnny Cardoso had a goal ruled out by VAR for a handball in the build-up, and Julián Álvarez volleyed against a post just after the restart.

United's pressing, when it came, came late. Diego Simeone spent the night prowling his technical area and got himself booked. Carrick stood in the corner of his with his chin in his hand. Lowe's line on that one stung: "Maybe United's manager could try that. Something, anyway."

The red card

On 74 minutes Jonathan David ran through on to a Morten Hjulmand pass, Yoro grappled with him, and both went down. The referee waved play on, then VAR sent him to the monitor and he came back with a red card. Sky Sports had it as denying a goalscoring opportunity.

It was harsh. It didn't change the fact that United were already losing, and it cost them Yoro for the next European game.

Three minutes later Grimaldo slipped David in, Senne Lammens saved, and Lookman tapped in the rebound. Heaven and Fernandes came off. Game over.

Two problems, not one

The easy reading is that United just need a finisher. They didn't create nothing. Mbeumo and Fernandes had chances good teams bury, and Benjamin Šeško has barely played this season. As our Šeško injury piece explains, that isn't changing before January.

The harder reading is the one that matters. Defending without the ball was flimsy all night. Leaving three Atlético players free for the first goal isn't bad luck. It's structure, and with centre-back Ayden Heaven filling in at left-back, the left side was the obvious place to attack. That's on the coaching as much as the players.

It also happened again eight days later. Como scored after two minutes, and United became the first English side to concede inside two minutes in consecutive major European games. Our Como vs Man Utd preview argued that De Ligt had to start. He did, and United were still behind inside two minutes.

Then Martínez spoke to Amazon Prime after the game, and the result became the second-biggest story of the night. His frustration was with recruitment, and a centre-back playing left-back was the clearest example of it on the pitch.

The verdict

A Champions League defeat away at Atlético isn't a disaster on its own. This one came three days after throwing away a win against ten-man Spurs, and it was another start in which United were behind before they'd touched the ball in anger.

United went to Leeds five days later and finally started well. But the first minute in Madrid, and the second at Como, sum up United's last two European nights. They were beaten before they'd started, and Roma on Tuesday is the night that has to break the pattern.