Bruno Fernandes denies clear-the-air talks after Manchester United's Roma comeback

Bruno Fernandes used the aftermath of Manchester United's 3-2 comeback over AS Roma to shut down the talk around him and Michael Carrick. United were 2-0 down inside 17 minutes, booed at half-time, then came back to win and end a nine-game winless run. The result mattered on the pitch, but Fernandes clearly wanted the message off it to land too.

Fernandes pushes back on the rumours

Speaking after Manchester United vs AS Roma, Fernandes said the mood around the club had been distorted by speculation. "It's been tough, there's been a lot of speculation in the media, a lot of lies around many things that happened in this club between me and the manager, like that we had clear-the-air talks. Nothing like that happened," he said.

That denial matters because the noise had been building around his relationship with Carrick. Fernandes also said, "The club needed that win, the players needed that win, it's something that we needed as a group of players. We've been working so hard to get out of this situation together." He followed that by saying Carrick's decision to bench him against Chelsea was fair, which makes the post-match line harder to read as anything other than a direct rebuttal to the speculation.

His numbers still show how central he remains. Fernandes has 8 Premier League appearances this season, 3 goals and 1 assist, while he has made 4 Champions League appearances as well.

Lacey and Cunha gave the night its swing

There was a football story inside the noise too. Shea Lacey came on in the 75th minute and supplied the pass for Matheus Cunha's winner, his 10th first-team appearance for the club. Carrick was glowing about the teenager afterwards, saying, "I think he gave everybody a bit of a lift coming on the pitch, and it was fantastic to see, and he made the most of what he had tonight."

Carrick also explained the change that helped Cunha. "We put him inside, we swapped him with Bryan [Mbeumo] at half-time to try and get him in the middle of the pitch," he said, and Cunha scored twice after that tweak. United needed that kind of intervention after the start they made, and the finish was only messy in the way it had to be, with Cunha sent off after a second yellow card in injury time.

The wider point is straightforward enough. Fernandes removed the clear-the-air story from the discussion, Carrick got a lift from Lacey, and Cunha's brace finished the job. United's comeback has stopped the slide, and the next question is what this looks like when they go again after Tuesday night's 3-2 win.