Manchester United equal Real Madrid comeback record with 3-2 win over Roma

Manchester United came from 2-0 down to beat Roma 3-2 at Old Trafford, and in doing so equalled Real Madrid's Champions League record for overturning a two-goal deficit. Matheus Cunha scored twice late on, then got himself sent off.

The record is the headline. The match itself was a mess that happened to end well. Our full match report has the detail; here is what actually turned it.

Two goals gifted, one night wasted

United were not the better side for the first half. They were the more generous one.

Kobbie Mainoo, making his first start in almost a month, was dispossessed in midfield. Roma worked the ball to Rodrigo Mora, who found Matias Soule in acres of space with Diogo Dalot caught high up the pitch. Soule finished past Senne Lammens, according to the Mirror.

The second was worse. Harry Maguire's poor clearance was seized on by Soule, whose shot hit the arm of Ayden Heaven. Referee Jesus Gil Manzano pointed to the spot and Donyell Malen scored it.

The Mirror also reports that Roma went close to a third on several occasions before the interval. Boos met the team at half-time, per The Standard.

There was noise outside the football too. The Mirror reported a planned protest in the 21st minute: green and gold balloons in the Stretford End, tennis balls and a pie thrown onto the pitch, and chants against the Glazers, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Jason Wilcox. A team two goals down with a stadium turned against the owners is not usually a team about to win.

The number that decided it

Zero. Roma did not take a single shot in the second half, according to the Mirror.

That is the whole tactical story. Roma led 2-0, with chances for more, and then failed to register another shot. Whatever their plan, the second-half shot count makes grim reading. United did not need a clever idea. They needed Roma to stop having one.

The goals followed the pattern. Cunha went down just before the hour and the Mirror called the penalty dubious. Bruno Fernandes had his first attempt saved by Roma's debutant goalkeeper Devis Vasquez, but a retake was ordered for encroachment. Fernandes scored it the second time. A save that did not count is the kind of luck a side in a bad run takes without complaint.

Then Cunha did the rest. He pounced on a woeful clearance from Leonardo Balerdi to equalise, then hammered the winner past Vasquez at his near post in the 86th minute.

Football Italia's report said Roma "once again threw away a two-goal Champions League advantage". That is Roma's problem to explain. It is also the reason this record fell so easily to United.

What it means for Carrick

The result ended a winless run dating back to late August. The length of that run depends on who is counting: The Standard called it nine games, the Mirror said this was the first win in 10, with the last coming against Sabah. Either way, the Mirror says it avoided their worst run since the 1984-85 season.

It also eased the pressure on manager Michael Carrick, who, in The Standard's words, had been teetering "on the brink of the sack". In a pre-match interview quoted by the Mirror, he said: "I think tonight is a whole new Man United." He added: "It's the next opportunity for us to win a football match, we are looking to do that, we need to do that, and tonight would be a good one [for us to win]."

One night does not make a new United. The first half suggested the old one was still in the building, and Carrick's selection came with questions. Lisandro Martinez had been dropped to the bench after his display against Chelsea, even though the Mirror notes his ban applies only to Premier League matches.

What to watch

Start with the damage. Carlos Baleba charged into Roma's penalty area, pulled out of a shot clutching his hamstring and had to come off. The match report gives no prognosis.

Then Cunha. He had been booked earlier for taking his shirt off and celebrating in the Old Trafford crowd. In stoppage time he was sent off for what The Standard called a silly challenge, a second yellow. Whether that brings a Champions League suspension, and for how many matches, is not yet clear. A man who scores twice and then gets himself sent off has given with one hand and taken with the other.

The record itself needs a footnote. It is reported as equalling Real Madrid's mark for a two-goal Champions League comeback, but the coverage here does not set out the other details of that shared record. Madrid's version of it is a different matter from a team that had not won in two months.

What United do with it is the real test. Two goals gifted, zero Roma shots after the break and a questionable penalty is a thin base for a revival. The numbers saw it first: this was a team beaten by its own mistakes, then rescued by the opposition's.