Matheus Cunha took the ball in his stride, a delightful touch on the run and then, after a quick glance up to take aim, pulled the trigger on a rocket that clipped the inside of the near post before nestling in the back of a rippling net.

From 2-0 down inside 17 minutes, Manchester United had just scored their third goal and Cunha’s second of a scintillating comeback. After all the criticism, all the doubts, all the attacks on the players’ ability and mentality, the Brazil international had just completed a remarkable late turnaround.

Given the misery of this season and the perilous nature of this game, his release of emotion was understandable. Cunha took off in delirious celebration, ripping his shirt off his back, like a skinny version of the Hulk, before leaping at least three rows into the stands behind the goal.

The Brazilian’s naked torso disappeared into a seething mass of leaping, jumping supporters who had held their arms wide to greet him.

The goal prompted wild ecstasy inside a stadium that had been angry, frustrated, rebellious and extremely volatile in the first half. With loud protests against the club’s owners betraying the mess United are in, exposing the divisions that are tearing supporters apart from those who run the club in their name, the players had finally delivered in adversity.

Cunha took a while to return to the pitch, just about keeping hold of his shirt and received a yellow card for his trouble. Those who complained about that might have been dismissed as a fun sponge at the time given the context. Cunha, like so many of his team-mates, has endured a torrid start to the season. He looked short of form and confidence, but he had just scored a stunning goal in the 86th minute to win a game his team had looked like losing badly at half-time.

With the adrenalin pumping through his body and the crowd roaring on every run forward, header, pass and tackle, Cunha lost his head. Roma were shocked and bedraggled, but the scorer of United’s winner’s blood was up and as centre-back Leonardo Balerdi looked to launch a long ball forward in search of an unlikely equaliser, Cunha leapt in.

Maybe the ball was there to be won, maybe it was not, but the situation did not require that risk to be taken. The tackle was reckless, stupid even. There were five minutes of stoppage time to see out and the moment Cunha caught the Argentine defender, everyone knew what was coming except, it seemed, the United forward.

He looked shocked to see the referee waving the yellow card, followed immediately by a more flamboyant showing of the red. A look at the floor, shirt pulled up to cover his face and then the trudge off the pitch and into the tunnel to wait for the final whistle to blow.

Are you not entertained? Absolutely, but if anything summed up this night for United, if anything captured the drama and the turbulent nature of their season up to this point it was Cunha’s contribution here.

From a moment of brilliance to an act of stupidity. Imagine what the reaction would have been if the 10 men had failed to see the game out and Roma had scored a third?

Maybe you will feel it is churlish to dwell on a silly red card for United’s match-winner. Cunha looked anguished as he was forced to wait in the tunnel for the players to finish their victory lap. The tunnel turned the light around United’s little devil red. It was a strangely powerful image.

Cunha should have been basking in the glory of the moment. If the first goal was a tap in, owing to a defensive blunder, the second strike was special.

He had saved his team and possibly even his manager’s job in the process. He should be remembered and celebrated for that. The sending-off added to the sense of drama. It also means he is suspended for a tricky trip to Sporting Lisbon next.

United have won bigger European games than this one, but in the circumstances, this was a huge victory. None of it would have been possible without their Brazilian showman. Sometimes you can take the good over the bad. It has been a while since United supporters were able to do that.