Cunha's Impact at Old Trafford: Carrick's Manchester United Revival
Matheus Cunha walked off the Old Trafford pitch with a goal, a win over Liverpool and a message: Manchester United, under Michael Carrick, feel closer to Sir Alex Ferguson’s shadow than they have in a decade.
The Brazilian had set the tone in the 3-2 victory, his opener sparking a performance that dragged United back into the Champions League with three games to spare. That target, publicly set by football director Jason Wilcox when Ruben Amorim was sacked in January, had looked ambitious at best. Now it is banked, and the mood has changed.
Carrick’s Ferguson echo
Carrick’s numbers are blunt and persuasive. Ten wins in 14 games as interim manager. A team that had drifted now playing with structure, conviction and a sense of purpose that had been missing for years. No wonder Cunha talks about “magic”.
"I sat on the bench with him," Cunha said, recalling his early days under Carrick. "How he teaches everyone is amazing. He has the magic with these Ferguson times. Then he comes and brings it to us, teaches us how it was, to be part of everything. Then he did this."
Those Ferguson years are not abstract for Carrick. He lived them. Five Premier League titles, one Champions League, and the standards that came with being part of the last great United side. Cunha sees that connection as more than nostalgia; he sees it as a bridge.
"It's amazing. He's a pleasure. Of course, I think he deserves it."
Carrick, though, has refused to let anyone think the job is done. United’s Champions League spot is secure, but the manager has pushed the squad to chase more than a simple return to Europe’s elite. The numbers on the league table back that up.
United still need four points to be certain of finishing in the top three, something they have managed only four times since Ferguson retired in 2013. They also have a chance to end the season fewer than 12 points behind the champions, which would match their closest post-Ferguson gap, set under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in 2020-21.
Champions League, with and without United
For Cunha, qualification is not a box ticked. It is a minimum requirement.
"It's one of the biggest privileges I have to play at this club," he said. "The Champions League without this club is not the same competition, and this club without Champions League is not same club.
"But it is not only the Champions League. We need to fight for the titles. This is the first one [step]. We could come much stronger for next season."
That line – “first step” – hangs over everything at Old Trafford now. New direction off the pitch, a manager making a compelling case on it, and a squad that knows this summer will bring change.
Casemiro’s future in the balance
One of those changes was supposed to be clear: Casemiro, Cunha’s Brazil team-mate, is leaving. The midfielder has said as much, and Carrick reinforced the message in his media duties on Friday.
Yet Cunha, who knows the 34-year-old well, is not quite ready to say goodbye.
"It's so easy to talk about him," Cunha said. "I know how important he is.
"He's an amazing guy. There is a strong part of him outside the pitch. He's so lovely and so friendly. He teaches me.
"We don't know in the end how it is with his contract. Of course, everyone hopes there's a little bit more. I know it's harder than we talked about, but, in the end, you never know."
Old Trafford has seen enough sagas to know that final chapters are not always as straightforward as they seem. Casemiro’s situation now joins that long list of unresolved stories.
A £62.5m bet paying off
If there were doubts last summer about whether Cunha could carry the weight of a £62.5m fee from Wolves, they have faded quickly. United made him a priority signing. He has responded with impact and personality.
His goal against Liverpool was his ninth of the season, several of them decisive. He struck the winners at Arsenal and Chelsea, moments that have underpinned Carrick’s surge towards the Champions League places and strengthened the interim manager’s claim for the job full-time.
Cunha has done it all with a swagger that fits the shirt rather than shrinks under it. And when he scores, everyone knows what’s coming.
Surfing the Old Trafford wave
The celebration has become his trademark. Arms out, body low, gliding across the turf. Against Liverpool, it escalated. He sprinted away, chased by team-mates, dived to the ground, then bounced back up to “surf” in front of a delirious Stretford End.
"I've improved my celebration a little bit," he said. "Every time, my friends in Brazil every time say, 'you cannot only surf, you have to paddle and stand up on the surfboard'. I said OK, I'll try to improve.
"It's part of my life; to bring this into football and show everyone how happy I am to play football and surf. I have to do it."
There is a lightness in that image – a £62.5m forward paddling and popping up on an imaginary board in one of football’s most pressurised arenas – but it sits on top of something serious. United have their Champions League place back. They have a manager the dressing room clearly believe in. They have players who talk openly about titles, not just top four.
The Ferguson era is gone. Carrick and Cunha are not pretending otherwise. But for the first time in a long time, Old Trafford does not just look back at that period with longing. It wonders how close this team can get to writing something of its own.
