Manchester United were blunted by a determined Atletico Madrid side as the Spaniards edged the Red Devils 1-0 at Old Trafford to progress 2-1 on aggregate to the Uefa Champions League quarter-finals while Benfica knocked out Ajax.

Manchester United 0-1 Atletico Madrid (Atletico advance 2-1 on aggregate)

Atletico Madrid drove the final nail in the coffin of a miserable season for Manchester United as Renan Lodi’s header sent the Spanish champions into the Champions League quarter-finals with a 1-0 win at Old Trafford to progress 2-1 on aggregate.

Anthony Elanga came off the bench to salvage a 1-1 draw for United in the Spanish capital three weeks ago and the Swedish teenager was unlucky not to put the hosts ahead in the tie on 13 minutes.

Diogo Dalot’s low cross picked out Elanga and his goalbound effort rebounded off Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak’s head to safety.

Atletico had been penned inside their own half for the opening 15 minutes, but posed a threat every time they managed to string a few passes together on the counter-attack.

Rodrigo De Paul’s long-range effort forced David De Gea into a stunning save at full stretch.

Joao Felix had scored five times in his previous five games, including Atletico’s goal in the first leg, finally starting to deliver on his €120- million ($131m) price tag.

The Portuguese had the ball in the net again at the end of a slick Atletico move that cut through a leaden-footed United defence, but Marcos Llorente was flagged offside from Koke’s pass before he squared for Felix to apply the finishing touch.

United did not learn their lesson as they were again easily opened up down their left for the decisive goal.

The home fans were still screaming for a foul on Elanga in the Atletico half when the visitors fed the ball forward to Felix, whose backheel found Antoine Griezmann and his cross picked out the unmarked Lodi to head home.

Atletico resorted to the tried-and-tested tactics of Simeone’s reign in the second half as they were happy to sit on their lead and were not unduly troubled by a United side lacking in ideas.

Ralf Rangnick made the brave call to withdraw Bruno Fernandes 23 minutes from time as he emptied his bench in search of an equaliser with Paul Pogba and Edinson Cavani among those thrown on.

But set pieces were the hosts’ only source of danger as Oblak produced a superb save to deny Raphael Varane before getting back off the floor to trap Ronaldo’s acrobatic follow-up effort.

Those proved to be United’s final efforts on target as the visitors held firm, allowing Simeone to sprint down the touchline in celebration at full time.

Ajax 0-1 Benfica (Benfica advance 3-2 on aggregate)

Darwin Nunez headed home in the 77th minute as Benfica stunned Ajax to reach the Champions League quarter-finals on Tuesday, winning the second leg of their last-16 tie 1-0 in Amsterdam to advance 3-2 on aggregate.

The Portuguese side had not managed a single attempt on target until Uruguay striker Nunez beat goalkeeper Andre Onana to Alex Grimaldo’s free kick and headed in to silence the Johan Cruyff Arena.

Ajax, who had dominated the first half, could not recover from that blow and go out while two-time European Cup winners Benfica look forward to Friday’s draw for the quarter-finals.

Having sent Barcelona packing in the group stage, they will now appear in the last eight for the first time since 2016.

The Dutch side’s star striker, Sebastien Haller, had been hoping to score in an eighth consecutive Champions League game this season having netted a remarkable 11 goals in his first seven appearances in the competition.

Yet, he was upstaged by the 22-year-old Nunez as Benfica’s own prolific forward found the target for the 26th time in all competitions since the start of the campaign.

A swashbuckling Ajax side had won all six games in the group stage before twice leading against Benfica in the first leg in Lisbon only to have to settle for a 2-2 draw.

Haller, who has 32 goals in total this season, had scored at both ends in that game and he had the ball in the net in the seventh minute here only for the effort to be ruled out because Dusan Tadic was flagged offside in the buildup.

Erik ten Hag’s prolific side, who are top of the Dutch Eredivisie, looked at their best in the first half but could not find a way through as Steven Berghuis blasted over on the volley from just inside the box.

Ryan Gravenberch then unleashed a superb shot that was tipped over by Benfica goalkeeper Odisseas Vlachodimos, and they did not look as threatening in the second half.

Instead, they found themselves behind for the first time in the tie as Nunez struck, and a Benfica team who lie third in the Portuguese league, 12 points behind leaders Porto, held on to join the cream of Europe’s elite in the last eight.