Matheus Cunha's late brace saw Manchester United see off Roma in the Champions League - with Rio Ferdinand demanding the Brazilian maintain that level

Rio Ferdinand hopes that Matheus Cunha's match winning brace for Manchester United serves to kick on his career at Old Trafford as he concedes the Brazilian has not delivered enough.

Cunha is into his second year in Manchester having moved from Wolves for £62.5million, but has been part of a team that's been regularly criticised following a nine-game winless run. That was snapped with a comeback win over Roma on Tuesday night.

Cunha scored twice in the final 10 minutes as United came back from 2-0 down to win 3-2, leading to huge celebrations at Old Trafford. The Brazilian was sent off in the final moments of the game, but Ferdinand still sees it as the benchmark going forward.

Last term Cunha impressed in patches, scoring 10 times, but his display in midweek was his most defining in a red shirt to date and Ferdinand is now hoping for more.

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He said on his YouTube channel: "I think for Cunha this could be liftoff where he starts to catch fire,’ Ferdinand said on his YouTube channel. ‘I think he’s a hugely talented footballer and he showed glimpses, especially last season.

"Could this be the game that unlocks him? Because I haven’t seen it enough yet with him. You see moments, and you go, 'Oh, look at that, that’s why we paid the big money for him', but not enough.

"He needs to be watching back that performance and go, where were the fans feeding off me there? Where was I getting them going? Where was I getting the team and being the pressure point for the team? It was without the ball a lot of the time. And keep bringing that every game."

Cunha has had to show his versatility this season with United's only genuine No 9, Benjamin Sesko, out injured. That has seen the ex-Wolves man having to lead the line on occasion.

The 28-year-old acknowledged their recent struggles, but maintained he needed to be the type of player who stood up when the chips were down.

He said: “I think everything, when we tried to do it, being part of Man Utd is very hard because in these kinds of moments in the season, we know we always have these kinds of comparisons with the past. We need to have these kinds of games like today, and then we’ll pass the hard moment. But today was a blessed day for me.

“Being part of this, I have a responsibility. I always talk inside about that – I need to be this kind of guy – to have the responsibility in the hard moments and the good moments. I always need to show up and be there for nights like today.”