Matheus Cunha was the star of the show for Man Utd as they beat Roma in a thrilling Champions League tie on Tuesday night.

Matheus Cunha soaked up the final few seconds of Manchester United's Champions League epic against Roma with a front-row seat. Having almost single-handedly hauled United back from the dead, the Brazilian then perched on the advertising hoardings, one leg crossed over the other, having been sent off in injury time.

There was little surprise that Cunha was dismissed given he was playing on the edge in the second half. When he won the penalty from which Bruno Fernandes got the comeback started, he smashed a ball into the stands to try and rouse the supporters to life.

He booted another ball into the fans when he netted the equaliser and then ripped off his shirt and went crowd-surfing for the winner, before his frenzied approach finally tipped over the edge with a late challenge that earned him a second yellow card.

That means Cunha will be suspended for the trip to Lisbon to face Sporting CP later in November, but he is available for Sunday's Old Trafford date with Aston Villa, and having saved Michael Carrick's job once this week, he will now look to repeat the trick.

Carrick was a dead man walking with United 2-0 down to Roma at half-time, but the comeback has offered him a sliver of breathing space. He could do with a second win in a week to be sure of keeping his job beyond the international break.

Cunha will have to play a big part in that as he looks to back up his best day yet in a United shirt. The game against Villa will be his 50th for the club and Tuesday was the first time he has scored more than once in a game since his £62.5million move from Wolves.

Now Carrick wants to see the Brazilian prove he can match the quality and intensity of his midweek display on a regular basis.

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"He has to repeat that performance. He was fantastic and that's close to his best, and that's the level we want to see, not just him, from the team," he said.

Cunha has been hamstrung by uncertainty over his best performance. Signed to fill one of the two No.10 slots in Ruben Amorim's 3-4-2-1, he doesn't have a natural home now that Carrick has reverted to a back four.

He spent a large chunk of last season on the left wing, before starting this campaign as a false nine. He played a bit of both in the second half against Roma and Carrick has suggested giving the 27-year-old a little more freedom could be a way to unlock those performances on a regular basis.

"I think the beauty of Matheus is he can play different positions across the front line," he said. "He's played off the left for us and did ever so well last season. He's played through the middle at times, he played off the left, half through the middle [on Tuesday].

"I think just that bit of freedom and fluidity suits him a lot, but he can do both. For sure, he can do both."