Sometimes you get what you deserve in sport. With an hour gone on an angsty night at Old Trafford, with Manchester United fumbling vaguely in front of the Sevilla defence like a man struggling in the wee hours for his door key, José Mourinho decided, what the hell, and brought on Paul Pogba for Marouane Fellaini.

Old Trafford roared itself out of its slumbers as Mourinho’s most compelling midfield presence made a belated entrance. And yet half an hour later Manchester United had exited the Champions League without having at any stage made any obvious attempts to stay in it.

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They did so in limp fashion, outmanoeuvred by a wonderful midfield stylist in Éver Banega, who played United off their own pitch while barely seeming to break a sweat.

There will be blame-shifting, even the pretence that United were simply unlucky, with nothing in their gameplan that requires any major revision. But this was a depressingly craven defeat for the three-time champions of Europe, a team that have had £300m spent on them in the last two seasons, and who lined up in a must-win game with an invention-free flat midfield pegged out around the spoiling qualities of Fellaini and Nemanja Matic.

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All tactical preferences aside, it is hard not to conclude that this United team are better than that; they have more invention, more drive, more joy in their football than they were allowed to show over 180 guileless minutes. It should be a source of embarrassment that they looked so laboured, cocooned within the manager’s enduring defensive rage against the fifth best team in Spain.

Quick guide Manchester United player ratings Show Hide David de Gea Quiet until Ben Yedder came on, will not enjoy replays of the scramble that led to the second goal. 6 Antonio Valencia Did not manage to get forward as much as usual, had his hands full trying to keep Correa quiet. 5 Eric Bailly Lucky to get away with early error, made up for it with superb tackle to prevent Correa scoring. 7 Chris Smalling Found it hard to keep track of Vázquez’s movement, good block on Ben Yedder late in game. 5 Ashley Young Was having a decent game until he lost Ben Yedder at the far post from a corner for second goal. 7 Marouane Fellaini Not easy to see why he was preferred to Pogba, yet created United’s best chance of first half. 6 Nemanja Matic Quiet game, missed his chance to intercept move that led to first goal, assist for Lukaku goal. 6 Jesse Lingard Confident running on and off the ball, found himself coming ever deeper in search of possession. 6 Alexis Sánchez Dangerous but too many of his ideas failed to come off, resulting in lost possession. 6 Marcus Rashford Mostly isolated on the right, better on left, made some powerful runs when ball came his way. 7 Romelu Lukaku Barnstorming opening followed by a quiet first half. Emphatic finish for goal. 7 Subs Pogba (for Fellaini 60) Made no difference Gave ball away with one of his first touches, passed straight into touch in stoppage time 5, Martial (for Lingard 77) n/a, Mata (for Valencia 77) n/a

It is hard to determine these days exactly what drives Mourinho’s manic caution, that strangely compelling desire to pre-throttle his own team, insisting only on victories that involve stifling defence. There is a theory Mourinho has backed himself into a tactical corner, so profound is his enduring dislike of the Barcelona-centred school that he insists the game be played the other way.

For Mourinho nothing has ever quite matched his defining victory in this competition eight years ago, a game at Camp Nou in which his Internazionale team overcame Pep Guardiola’s peak Barcelona playing the opposite of-possession football, kicking the ball away, defending in a deep double-bolt, bending the basic notion of what football can be to Mourinho’s annihilating will.

This, though, was Sevilla at home, the kind of occasion this grand old club likes to suck the sweetness from. No matter what stage of the season there is a simple formal beauty to the sight of United’s red shirts lining up under the harsh flat white lights of that craning corrugated roof.

Quick guide Sevilla player ratings Show Hide Sergio Rico Good save to prevent Fellaini scoring on one of few occasions when United broke through. 7 Gabriel Mercado More troubled by Young’s runs down the left than Sánchez. Dealt with Rashford in second half. 6 Simon Kjaer Initially seemed likely to be bullied by Lukaku, ended up standing up to him quite well. 7 Clément Lenglet Some important blocks, particularly from Sánchez and Lukaku. Strong defensive leader. 8 Sergio Escudero Solid shift at left-back, mostly managed to keep Rashford quiet until he crossed to other wing. 6 Steven Nzonzi The usual mix of deft touches and effective defensive screening and one or two optimistic shots. 7 Éver Banega Industrious midfield presence, covered a lot of ground as busy foil to Nzonzi’s more languid style. 8 Pablo Sarabia Set up opportunity for Muriel in first half. A couple of balls into box deserved better finishing. 8 Franco Vázquez Could not profit from a couple of early half chances, passing wayward at times, but always a threat. 8 Joaquín Correa Early chance from Banega corner but headed over bar. Promising runs but diffident finishing. 7 Luis Muriel Narrowly wide with good chance to open the scoring in first half. Only half chances after that. 6 Subs Ben Yedder (for Muriel 72) Only took a couple of minutes to provide the finish that Sarabia's prompting had been crying out for. 9, Pizarro (for Vazquez 88) n/a, Geis (for Correa 89) n/a

And yet for most of the opening hour it was the visitors who played with guile and drive and who possessed in Banega the most impressive midfield presence on the pitch. Time and again, as United fought and leapt, Banega could be seen tiptoeing through the trees, a genuinely high-calibre ball-player, capped 59 times by Argentina and startlingly calm in the middle of that midfield forest.

There is a point to this. Banega is also exactly what United do not have, an element beyond the strangulating Mourinho blueprint, trusted to purr about the pitch seeking the right place to deploy his velvet-pawed touch. Banega might not sprint or leap well at set pieces. But here he ran the game by stealth, an ambling brain in bright orange boots, funnelling possession into difficult areas and digging his fingernails into the back of United’s midfield.

By the end Banega had had more touches than any other player and completed more passes than anyone else. More tellingly, he had given the home crowd a glimpse of the assertive ball-playing control so many of their own best midfielders have been allowed to show down the years, coming on like a late-career Scholes or a more mobile Carrick in those deeper positions.

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Either side of which the game congealed in that familiar fashion, Once, and once only, Fellaini found himself in space in a forward position, taking a return pass from Jesse Lingard and hammering a shot in the general direction of Sergio Rico’s goal with all the refined finishing instinct of a man punting a medicine ball through a swamp.

Sevilla’s opening goal arrived on 75 minutes. Banega played the ball forward, it was funnelled on by Pablo Sarabia and Wissam Ben Yedder finished calmly. Mourinho capered with demented urgency on the touchline. Moments later he sent on Juan Mata to turn a game he might have been able to define, just as Ben Yedder got Sevilla’s second.

Defeat in the last 16, with two seasons spent creating this gristly blob of a team, will leave a lengthy period of reflection to the season’s end, with the shadow of United’s city rivals ever more distracting. Mourinho could do worse than react with a little fire, a little anger, even a little adventure.