Manchester United beat Villarreal on Tuesday night and due to the other result in their group going their way, as Atalanta drawing 3-3 with Young Boys, they are now confirmed to top their Champions League group.
Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had left the club after a poor run of results culminating in a 4-1 defeat to Watford in the Premier League, so Michael Carrick was in the dugout as caretaker manager for United in the game.
The style of football was not vastly different from Solskjaer's set-up and United still suffered issues across the pitch that a more clinical team would have punished, but they did what Carrick set out to do and secure a result against a Spanish side which United fans will remember has caused them many problems in the past.
Fantastic goals by Cristiano Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho, plus a rare clean sheet to cap off the performance means much to the delight of the fans, United will not be playing in the Europa League this season and will progress to the Round of 16.
Carrick has therefore done what the club needed him to do and now he needs to step aside for a more experienced manager to carry the team forward and challenge for silverware and the top four, and that man might be Mauricio Pochettino.
The MEN Sport understands that the Argentinian is currently unsettled at Paris-Saint Germain and would be willing to move to Old Trafford in midseason if an agreement can be reached between the two clubs.
Part of that agreement includes compensation to PSG to buy out his contract with runs until 2023. This would reportedly amount to around £10 million.
And this figure might just mean that United's win in the Champions League may carry extra significance.
When you win a game in the Champion's League, you receive a sum that equates to around €2.8 million euros and if United had drawn the sum would have been reduced to around €930,000.
You also receive a fee for qualifying out of the group stage and into the last 16 which comes to €9.6 million, so combined this equals €12.4 million or just over the £10 million needed to get Pochettino out of his contract.
This means that Ronaldo's goal to put the team ahead after what was a shaky start and turn the tide of the match in United's favour may have secured the player a manager which matches the win-now philosophy that the Portuguese forward's signing seemed to portray to the media.
Pochettino has shown in the past he can develop and improve a squad but will be wanting to show with this United team that he can take the next step and become a consistent trophy winner. The team has the talent but was lacking the coaching under Solskjaer, so Pochettino would definitely be a significant improvement.
If United secure the signing of Pochettino in the next few days, the goals by Ronaldo and Sancho could be the most important ones the club has scored for the next few years.
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