Man United: The damning list of stats amid Cristiano Ronaldo's worrying run and shoot-out misery

A wayward penalty by their star player, seven big chances squandered and another defeat on spot-kicks - last Friday was simply another evening to forget for Manchester United this season.

The Red Devils' biggest prospect of a trophy this season went down the drain after being knocked out of the FA Cup fourth round on penalties, at home to Championship side Middlesbrough.

For interim boss Ralf Rangnick, it left plenty to ponder after the winter break. Yet the contest only added to a list of damning statistics which illustrate United's tough 2021-22 campaign - and Sportsmail now delves into the detail.

BIG TROPHY DROUGHT BECKONS...

With Friday's FA Cup elimination comes another trophy opportunity squandered.

Fighting for a top-four place at best in the Premier League, United's last chance to win a trophy comes in the Champions League, where they have a last-16 tie against LaLiga champions Atletico Madrid.

A triumph in Europe's premier competition would seem unlikely and - if it does not miraculously come off - the club would be on their worst trophy drought since the club was last relegated, 48 years ago.

They were relegated from the old first division in the 1973-74 season, before being immediately promoted again.

No trophy this season would represent five years without silverware, with their last triumph coming in 2017 under Jose Mourinho when they won the Europa League.

A RECORD TO FORGET FROM THE SPOT

Despite scoring their first seven spot-kicks on Friday night, Anthony Elanga's blazing effort over the bear continued United's dreadful shoot-out record.

With last season's Europa League final defeat against Villarreal fresh in the memory, United have now won just one of their last eight shoot-outs.

Furthermore, United have never won a shoot-out in the FA Cup, losing all four spot-kick showdowns in the competition.

RONALDO OUT OF FORM

Cristiano Ronaldo was one of the players who scored in the shoot-out. If only he managed that in normal time.

The Portuguese superstar amazingly skewed his first-half penalty wide of the post; the biggest opportunity squandered by United in normal time.

And now he needs to score against Burnley tomorrow to avoid his longest goalscoring drought in over a decade.

Ronaldo, who turned 37 on Saturday, hasn’t scored in his last four United matches and did not find the back of the net in January, with his last goal coming on December 30 against Burnley.

The last time Ronaldo went five club games without a goal was back in 2010 at Real Madrid. He failed to score on the final day of his first season against Malaga and started the following campaign without netting against Mallorca, Osasuna, Sociedad and Ajax.

Taking international football into account, his last dry spell of that length came in 2018; the final two matches of the World Cup for Portugal and first three of the following campaign for Juventus.

Ronaldo will want to put all this right at Turf Moor tomorrow night.

ROCK BOTTOM AT CORNERS

How's this for a bizarre stat. Despite numerous big aerial presences, United have not scored one goal from a corner kick this season - out of 129.

In fact, they are the only Premier League side yet to score a goal.

They have also scored the fewest goals from set-pieces - excluding penalties - in the Premier League this season, with just one.

STRUGGLES AT HOME

United have failed to score in four of their 11 home Premier League games this season.

That is already worse than their record last season after all 19 matches, when they only failed to score in three games.

Most recently, Wolves came to Old Trafford and kept a clean-sheet - while Marcus Rashford's last-minute winner a few weeks back stopped that number being five.

BIG DEFEATS TOO...

United have also looked susceptible and vulnerable at the back too, with the floodgates opening on occasions.

The Red Devils have conceded four or more goals in three Premier League games this season, their highest such total in the league since 1978-79.

A 4-2 defeat at Leicester was followed by the 5-0 humiliation against Liverpool, and the 4-1 loss at Watford spelled the end for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.