Manchester United produced an extraordinary comeback from two down to beat Roma 3-2 at Old Trafford and pick up their first win in 10 games.
Michael Carrick looked on the brink when his disjointed team were completely undone for Matias Soule’s opener and Donyell Malen soon made it two from the penalty spot. But Matheus Cunha won one of his own, scored two and was sent off in a wild contest.
United had been booed off at the break and when Carlos Baleba had to go off early in the second half with a hamstring injury it all looked dismal for United. But when Cunha won a penalty that Bruno Fernandes scored after a retake it altered the momentum.
Bryan Mbeumo struck both posts with one shot soon after and the noise inside Old Trafford was astonishing thereafter. Roma cleared one off the line and United had two more penalty shouts as the Italian side – unbeaten in Serie A – began to wobble badly.
Leonardo Balerdi’s error proved it, his woeful clearance allowing Cunha to slot home the leveller. And it was the same player with a stunning near-post finish from Shea Lacey’s pass who completed the comeback to the delight of the disbelieving crowd.
Cunha was sent off for a silly foul to ensure a tense finale but United held on for a first win in 54 days. Improbably, Carrick left the pitch not just to applause but having presided over a win in the Champions League. And a spirited one at that.
Analysis: A comeback from nowhere
Where on earth did that come from? Roma were two up and it could have been more against a United side whose spirit appeared as broken as their tactics in a first half that seemed like surrender. But strange things can still happen at the Theatre of Dreams.
It is difficult to overstate the incoherence of those opening minutes. Watching Fernandes throw his arms in the air in disgust at a Baleba pass late in the first half, it looked like a team in disarray and desperate to blame someone else for the situation.
United’s tactical setup early on against Roma was arguably even worse than against Como when Fernandes criticised his manager. They were continually cut apart in the left-back position with Diogo Dalot up the pitch and Ayden Heaven exposed.
At that stage, thought turned to the balance of the squad and the quality of it, the confidence and the team spirit, the players, the coach and the ownership. None of that completely goes away after a chaotic 45 minutes but this was at least something.
It was a team telling the fans that they can show spirit, that they are not prepared to let it slide further without a fight, that they can still conjure quality from nowhere. The scenes at the end of the game showed that at this great club, sometimes, that can be enough.
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