Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will doubtless Manchester United’s comeback down to the spirit and soul of the club, and it is true to say that this 3-2 win over Atalanta again showed that this team are at the very least playing for their manager. Cristiano Ronaldo offered yet another late match-winning moment, on another raucous European night.
It was just that this victory was as much down to the willingness of a depleted Atalanta side to persevere with their approach to the point that risk became recklessness. Gian Piero Gasperini’s one-on-one approach gave United countless opportunities, that they were eventually going to take up.
Another truth is that, as bad as this game was at half-time, United probably should have won about 8-2 rather than 3-2 by virtue of the chances created. They missed so many.
Or perhaps that should be 8-3, since David De Gea made yet another crucial and brilliant save from Duvan Zapata with the score at 2-2.
It felt so significant in the very moment of the stop, especially since it had such echoes of what happened against Villarreal - right down to what eventually happened. But that is why, even allowing for the fact United are now top of the group and surely en route for the last 16, it feels wrong to talk about this as any kind of turning point.
