If this feels like vindication for Manchester United, it shouldn't. The sort of unforgettable European night you could have been forgiven for thinking might be a long time in coming for this listing club, certainly. A fresh start to a season that seemed on the brink, perhaps.
And yet everything else does not go out of the window just because this team made Old Trafford roar again in a thrilling comeback to beat Roma 3-2. A modicum of the commitment, energy and application they showed in the second half and United would never have been in the hole they found themselves in in the first. It turned out that when United do not just throw in the towel on the concession of a goal, there's still a decent football team lurking in there.
More significantly than that, there are players who are still committed to the cause and perhaps to the manager. It surprised many that Michael Carrick got the backing of those above him after the defeat to Bournemouth nine days ago. This was as clear an indication as any that his players share his commitment to the cause, the belief he articulated on Monday.
Carrick might, however, ask where exactly this had been on the many occasions adversity came United's way in the last month. Why has everyone not been playing with the ferocity that Matheus Cunha used to carry this team back from the brink? The Brazilian was so exceptional you could forgive the overexuberance of a late red card.
It was the same quality that saw him force the penalty through which the petulant Bruno Fernandes halved the deficit. The equalizer was afforded to Cunha when Leonardo Balerdi cleared fresh air. The winner only required a helping hand from Shea Lacey, Cunha taking the ball to a narrow angle and rocketing in a goal that seemed unimaginable when the hosts were being booed to the dressing room at the interval.
Old Trafford had been electrified. It hadn't taken much, that penalty where Fernandes was lucky to get a second chance after a questionable encroachment call. When Bryan Mbeumo clipped both posts, it sounded like the wobbly roof might come off.
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