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 tie, the wildness of the emotions, that he ended up being sent off for a second yellow card in the 90th minute.
His lunge at Leonardo Balerdi was the definition of a rush of blood. Before that, Cunha had supplemented a Bruno Fernandes penalty – which the captain converted after a retake – with a touch and finish in the 83rd minute following an error from Balerdi. Then came the coup de grace.
It was a burst from Kobbie Mainoo, who was positive on his return to the starting XI after injury, and a fizzed pass from the substitute, Shea Lacey. Cunha took the ball with a lovely first touch before flashing a shot in off the inside of the near post. Cunha likes to celebrate his goals with a surfing move.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
