Three Ways Man Utd Can Build on Magical Champions League Comeback - Sports Illustrated
By Google News Sports ·
The obituaries were surely being written about Michael Carrick’s Manchester United tenure at halftime of Tuesday night’s Champions League clash with Roma.
The Red Devils, abject again, were staring down the barrel of a convincing defeat to stretch their winless run to 10 matches in all competitions. They’ve been historically bad at the start of the 2026–27 season, and their first half on Tuesday was some of their worst stuff to date.
A free-scoring Roma team merely needed to be competent to race into a 2–0 lead, and they could’ve been three or four up by the time Carrick’s players were greeted with a cacophony of discontent at the halftime whistle. There was absolutely no sense that the Red Devils were capable of revival.
But from somewhere deep within, United found something. A job-saving resurgence has breathed life into the Theatre of Dreams again, with Matheus Cunha’s two late strikes ensuring the hosts converted their morbid deficit into a euphoric triumph.
Time will tell whether Tuesday’s thrill is a turning point or merely a false dawn, with Aston Villa rocking up at a rejuvenated Old Trafford before the international break.
Here’s how Carrick’s Man Utd can build on their 3–2 victory over Roma.
It was a classic tale of two halves at Old Trafford, and there was no grand tactical plan from Carrick in the second half.
Man Utd initially appeared ill-equipped for the idiosyncratic challenges posed by Gian Piero Gasperini’s side, who man-mark all over the pitch. The Red Devils were caught out time-and-time again, with a litany of technical errors plaguing their shoddy first half display.
They seemingly had no answers, which rendered their turnaround all the more staggering. In truth, it was an embrace of the intangibles that facilitated Man Utd’s improvement…
Originally published by Google News Sports