Manchester City can forget a third consecutive appearance in the Women's Champions League semis final after they were dumped out in round 32 by Atletico Madrid 2-0 on a disappointing night and 3-1 on aggregate.
In the first leg Man City took and early lead in Spain only to be pegged back in the last minute and similarly Atletico Madrid needed only 4 minutes to open the scoring through Silvia Meseguer tapping in at the far post after the home defence was prised open.
Even in these opening minutes the goal was not a surprise as City looked slow, gave possession away to easily and the Spanish outfit were sharp and quickly punished errors at the back.
Even though City gradually settled down and began to dominate it was not with any sort of threat as invariably the choice of final pass was poor and still they looked uncertain at the back.
They almost got back into the game when Georgia Stanway tried her luck from distance only for keeper Dolores Gallardo to palm the ball onto the crossbar. Then Nikita Paris charged down a Gallardo clearance but the ball bounced the wrong side of the post from City's point of view.
Yet Atletico still looked useful on the break with the pace of Ludmila da Silva a particular problem for the City rearguard. And on the stroke of half-time da Silva it was who outpaced the host's back four to rifle home from close range as Karen Bardsley choose to stay on her line.
The City supporters were also not too impressed with Finnish referee Lina Lehtovaara who deemed that challenges which passed muster in the domestic league would not be allowed in European competition which visibly frustrated the home players.
City began the second half with more urgency needing to score three goals to progress and almost pulled one back as Gemma Bonner glanced a header wide. Three quick substitutions were made by the home side as they battled to get back into the game.
Atletico still looked dangerous and Jennifer Hermoso brought a fine save out of Bardsley with a direct free kick.
For all City's pressing they were causing few problems to the Spaniards defence and certainly not creating clear cut chances. Atletico were quite happy with this state of affairs and slowed the game down whenever they could.
Stanway almost scored from long range but the visitor's defence was proving too much for the predictable City attack. And so it proved as Atletico comfortably saw out time, even with 8 minutes added on and another effort against their woodwork, to book their place in the last 16.
For City this was a disappointing performance and they paid the price for a disjointed showing in which they rarely looked like mounting a comeback once they fell behind to that early goal.
Full Time
Man City: 0
Atletico Madrid: 2 (Meseguer 4, Da Silva 45)
(First leg 1-1)
Atletico Madrid progress 3-1 on aggregate
Att: 1,178
Venue: Academy Stadium
