Manchester United should not be leaving Old Trafford - it remains 'incredible'

The 27-year-old Roma defender’s appearance at Old Trafford was his 20th in the Champions League. In this competition, he has never made an error as shocking as the one that gifted Matheus Cunha an equaliser in Manchester United’s highly unlikely 3-2 win - and he will almost certainly not make a similar mistake again.

Faced with making the most routine of clearances, he pretty much took an air-shot. For a moment, it looked as though Cunha could not believe it.

They say these sorts of mistakes can happen. But in the elite strata of European club football, they rarely do. So, maybe, something prompted the Argentinian’s aberration. Maybe he was rattled. Maybe the febrile environment unnerved him.

After Cunha had completed the United comeback, Bruno Fernandes said: “Old Trafford came alive.”

In his lengthy post-match debrief, Michael Carrick punctuated his thoughts with repeated references to the influence of the atmosphere.

“This place does incredible things,” said the United manager. “We spoke about it at half-time.”

Those words are posted on United’s official website. The post below Carrick’s paean to Old Trafford is a request for fans to take part in a survey on the proposed new stadium.

“Have your say on our future home,” it implores. Many fans have already had their say. And it involves inviting the owners to, er, shelve their plans somewhere.

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After the minor miracle against Roma, the number of those fans with those sentiments can only increase.

Look, there was a freakishness about United’s second Champions League win of the season.

They were gifted a way back into the game by a generous penalty decision and the subsequent disqualification of the save because of marginal encroachment.

Then came Balerdi’s prize howler. The Cunha winner was a decent hit but perhaps the first or second choice Roma keeper - both absent - might have done better than the former Sheffield Wednesday man making his club debut.

And let’s face it, Roma had a two-goal lead at half-time but it could have been more. It was not just the raucously fantastic support that helped Carrick and United.

And don’t forget, when Carrick speaks about Old Trafford doing ‘incredible things’, he is not referencing 3-0 drubbings by Bournemouth. Or cup losses to Brighton. It is fair to say Premier League opposition approach a visit to Old Trafford with a lot less trepidation than they once did.

Yet Carrick is still right. The venue still has a magical quality. It still has an aura. It still has powerful history. Roma took aim at their own feet but they were still rattled.

It is still Old Trafford.

What will the new place be called? The INEOS Stadium, or something along those lines, no doubt.

Early briefing documents refer to it as the New Trafford Stadium. Can’t say that has much of a catch to it. But whatever it is called, it will not be Old Trafford. It will not be on the same storied land.

The extent of the dilapidation of Old Trafford has been exaggerated. An extensive redevelopment/rebuild - as what essentially happened at the Bernabeu - was surely not beyond question.

But there is also another fundamental reason why a large number of supporters have been telling Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the owners what they can do with the new stadium.

They believe Monaco Jim is more interested in the commercial benefits of an all-singing, all-dancing 100,000-seater stadium than he is in seeing United become a formidable football team once again. They believe he is more interested in business and the financial potential of a new stadium than he is in glory, tradition, heritage and the loyal, diehard fans.

And they are probably right.

Ratcliffe was not there for the Roma game but had he been, even he might have had second thoughts about moving away from Old Trafford.

As Carrick says, ‘incredible things’ can still happen there. And that is why United should not be leaving.