Manchester United produce comeback for the ages as Cunha double floors Roma

Michael Carrick enjoyed one of his finest nights as a Manchester United player in the Champions League against Roma, scoring twice in a 7-1 win in the quarter-final, second leg in 2007. The re-run here was all about his managerial survival at the club.

The situation looked impossibly grim for him at half-time. Amid an atmosphere of continued fan anger towards the United ownership, Carrick’s team had been implausibly bad. Roma took a 2-0 lead into the break and the truth was that the scoreline greatly flattered United.

What happened next was a fightback for the ages. For Carrick, it might even have topped 2007. United’s defending had been so loose, so generous. But they finally showed the other side to their game – the one about attacking punch; derring-do. They found a solution to their woes at the back. Keep the ball in the other half.

Matheus Cunha was the hero and it said plenty about the chaos of this game, the wildness of the emotions, that he ended up being sent off for a second yellow card in the 90th minute for a lunge at Leonardo Balerdi.

Before that, he had supplemented a Bruno Fernandes penalty – which the captain converted after a retake – with a touch and finish following an error from Balerdi. Cunha’s second goal, which proved to be the winner, was hammered in off the near post after a pass from the substitute, Shea Lacey. Cunha’s first touch to control was a beauty.

The United support sing about having seen it all. This was just extraordinary. Can it save Carrick? He will go into Sunday’s Premier League game at home against Aston Villa with renewed belief.

The fragility of the United backline has been well documented. How the hierarchy decided that it did not need any reinforcements over the summer is beyond belief. With Luke Shaw still injured, Carrick was forced to persist with Diogo Dalot out of position at left-back.

Dalot pushed very high at the outset, which felt bold. It was plainly a demand from Carrick. Dalot’s positioning was pure folly on the opening Roma goal. The visitors transitioned quickly, far too quickly for United’s ponderous defence and when Rodrigo Mora looked up from the inside left, all he could see was Soulé in acres of space on the opposite channel. Where was Dalot? Mora played the pass. Soulé took a touch and swept past the exposed Senne Lammens.

United’s defending for the second goal was even worse. Leny Yoro turned and ran back towards his own goal as Roma advanced up the left, and when the move appeared to have broken down for them around the United box, there was Harry Maguire to gift it back to Soulé with a dreadful miskick. Soulé dropped his shoulder and shot; the ball hit Ayden Heaven’s hand and Malen converted from the spot. Again, Dalot had been high up the pitch.

The mutiny could be felt before kick-off; the sounds of it heard. There were the green and gold balloons of protest against the Glazers. The relentless chants against the club’s owners. When the clock showed 20 minutes and five seconds – or 2005; the year of the Glazer takeover – the Stretford End erupted in a planned move; hurling tennis balls down on to the pitch.

Moments earlier, a grisly Dalot error on the ball had almost led to Malen getting in for a third and the first half was just an ordeal for United. Roma were well organised in their 3-4-2-1 shape and they got in up the inside right time and again. They might have had many more before the interval; Mora, Malen and Soulé all went close.

United offered minimal resistance. They were so easy to play through. There was nervousness from them on the ball, heavy touches. A glaring lack of cohesion. What was the plan? When Bruno Fernandes had a half-chance on the edge of the box in the 43th minute, he could not sort out his feet and blazed high.

Carrick was in the last chance saloon during half-time. He had to have a simple demand of his players: show some fight. There had been no evidence of it in the first period. Yet United emerged with purpose.

Carrick lost Carlos Baleba in the 46th minute. The midfielder stormed into the Roma area and was about to shoot only to pull his hamstring. Then, United caught a break – two, actually – and the mood shifted sharply.

It was a soft penalty award for a push by Gianluca Mancini on Cunha after he played a give-and-go with Fernandes. But when United had that sinking feeling after Fernandes saw his kick saved by Devis Vásquez, they were reprieved when the referee, Jesús Gil Manzano, ordered a retake for encroachment. Fernandes lashed it home.

United came alive. Bryan Mbeumo, played through by Cunha for a one-on-one with Vásquez, saw his shot hit one post and then the other one before refusing to cross the line. United threatened from corners. Maguire went close. Dalot had a header cleared off the line.

The United support had endured that familiar wrestle before kick-off; trying to find hope in face of the negativity, the deep sense of foreboding. Kobbie Mainoo’s return to the starting XI provided a glimmer. He was in the mood to make his moves.

Carrick’s major selection decision was to start Heaven over Lisandro Martínez in central defence. It shone a light into Martínez’s current headspace. It is a dark place. Martínez would get on for Heaven towards the end.

United fought. It was shocking to see how Roma, unbeaten so far this season in Serie A, fell apart. Cunha made the difference. United deal only in the craziest of extremes.