Jose Mourinho’s side knew they had to beat the Spanish giants at Old Trafford last night following a 0-0 draw at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan three weeks ago.
But they failed to get going in the first half, with Vincenzo Montella’s visitors making more of the opening 45 minutes of the encounter.
United’s hopes of reaching the Champions League quarter-finals appeared bleak when Wissam Ben Yedder put Sevilla ahead in the 74th minute.
And the French striker doubled up five minutes later as David De Gea failed to keep his header out having first diverted the ball on to the bar.
Romelu Lukaku handed United a potential route back into the game five minutes from time but it was too little, too late for Mourinho’s men.
The likes of Alexis Sanchez, Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba came in for their far share of flak for not stepping up to the plate against Sevilla.
Ferdinand vented his fury about his former side’s poor performance on Twitter, blaming the players and manager Mourinho.
“If you don’t turn up with the right attitude and don’t apply yourself then you will get beat – don’t care what you have done or how good you have been before,” he said.
“The way @ManUtd set up at Old Trafford today to counter attack this @SevillaFC_ENG team (weakest Sevilla team for years btw) was baffling.
“But also the players are the ones who set the tempo too, far too slow & cautious in possession & so passive without it.
“@ManUtd forward line should be scary to play against….the team ain’t set up at times to get the best out of them.
“Lukaku often isolated, wide men defending deep, team sits deep….in glimpses they scare.”