Matheus Cunha scored twice in three minutes to complete Manchester United's stunning 3-2 comeback against Roma, was then sent off in stoppage time, and ended the night looking furious as Michael Carrick ordered the match-winner back down the tunnel while his team-mates celebrated.
United were gone. Matias Soule had put Roma ahead on 11 minutes and Donyell Malen doubled the lead from the penalty spot seven minutes later, and the home side were booed off at half-time. Bruno Fernandes dragged them back into it with a retaken penalty on 58 minutes, as our full-time report on the comeback detailed, but with seven minutes left Roma still led.
Two goals, a shirt off, and a red card
Then Cunha took over. On 83 minutes he pounced after Leonardo Balerdi failed to clear a Fernandes cross and turned the ball in from close range. Three minutes later he rifled in the winner from Shea Lacey's pass, tore his shirt off and celebrated with the home fans — and was booked for it. That yellow card cost him almost immediately: in stoppage time he collected a second yellow for a late challenge on Balerdi and was sent off, leaving United to survive the final minutes with ten men.
The drama did not end at the whistle. Cunha, who had not gone far down the tunnel, re-emerged to join the post-match celebrations — but television cameras caught Carrick appearing to stop him and send him straight back towards the dressing room.
The tunnel moment nobody expected
As talkSPORT reported, the Brazilian was seen remonstrating as a club official took him back down the tunnel, shouting angrily before stopping to applaud the fans above the tunnel on his way off. Journalist Chris Wheeler, at Old Trafford, posted that the match-winner looked unhappy as Carrick appeared to tell him to go straight to the dressing room following his red card, a moment GiveMeSport also highlighted as the tense footage from the night emerged.
It is not clear that Carrick was punishing his hero. Under Law 12, a player who has been sent off must leave the vicinity of the field of play and the technical area, so a dismissed player returning to the pitch for celebrations risks further punishment from UEFA. On that reading, Carrick may have been protecting Cunha — and United — from making a bad ending worse, even if the player himself plainly did not see it that way in the moment.
So what does this change?
First, the practical cost: Cunha's red card rules him out of United's next Champions League fixture, against Sporting CP on 25 November — a heavy price for a shirt-off celebration and a tired late challenge, on a night when he had just become the most important player in the team. No United player has been directly involved in more goals for the club this season than the Brazilian, with six goal involvements.
Second, the Carrick question. At half-time his reign felt effectively over, as our half-time report put it. A comeback from 2-0 down to a first win in ten games buys him real breathing space — but the enduring image of the night, alongside the goals, is his match-winner being marched away from the celebrations. How the pair handle the next few days, with Aston Villa next in the Premier League on Sunday, will say plenty about whether this was protection, frustration, or the first crack in a relationship United cannot afford to break.
Beyond the Final Whistle: Cunha lived an entire season in fifteen minutes — hero, villain of his own story, and then a furious figure in the tunnel while Old Trafford sang. Carrick was probably right to get him off that pitch, and the law was probably on the manager's side, but a club that has just ended a nine-game winless run should be celebrating together, not arguing in front of the cameras. The comeback saved the night; what happened after it must not be allowed to spoil the week.
Was Carrick protecting Cunha or punishing him — and should a sent-off player be allowed back on to celebrate a win like that? Tell us in the comments.
