Capello was not impressed by the team that came back from the dead at Old Trafford on Tuesday night. Watching Roma lose 3-2 after leading 2-0 at the break, the former England and Italy boss delivered a line that cut through the celebration in Manchester.

“This Manchester United team does not have exceptional players who can turn a game around from one minute to the next, they have average players,” Capello told Sky Sport Italia. “That’s why it hurts more than against Real Madrid.”

The reference was to Roma’s 4-3 home defeat to Real Madrid on 14 October, when José Mourinho’s side led 3-1 before the visitors scored three times late on to turn the game. Being beaten by that squad, Capello suggested, was one thing. Being beaten by this Manchester United was another.

Carrick had arrived at Old Trafford on the brink

The backdrop sharpens Capello’s point. Michael Carrick’s side went into the Roma game on a nine-match winless run and sat near the Premier League relegation zone after a 2-0 loss at Chelsea. Before kick-off against Roma, Carrick himself publicly acknowledged that he only expected to still be in charge on matchday. His job, by any reasonable reading, was already on the table.

Read also: Haaland barely kicked the ball in Leipzig: Maresca says that is the whole point

Then came the match itself. Matías Soulé struck inside the opening quarter, and Donyell Malen converted a first-half penalty to put Roma two up. The home crowd booed at the interval. In the second half, Bruno Fernandes pulled one back from the spot, and Matheus Cunha’s double completed the turnaround before he was shown a second yellow card in stoppage time.

Florenzi: ‘In Manchester, we only played one half’

In the Sky Sport Italia studio, former Roma defender Alessandro Florenzi sat alongside Capello and framed the night in similar terms.

“This one hurts a lot more than Real Madrid, because they conceded three goals in seven minutes, but still played 83 excellent minutes of football,” Florenzi said. “In Manchester, they only played one half. There are more regrets here.”

The common thread between the pundits was not sympathy for United, but a refusal to credit them. Roma, in their reading, had gifted the game.

Read also: Atletico Madrid prepare €30m move for Arsenal star as Diego Simeone pushes for January deal

A result that steadies Carrick, not the verdict on his squad

For Carrick, the Roma win is a reprieve rather than a reset. In May the club confirmed him as head coach on a new contract running to 2028. But the Premier League position has not moved, and Capello’s charge about the depth of the squad is one that no late comeback can quiet.

Carrick’s side travel to Tottenham in the Premier League on Saturday.

Read also: Pierre Gasly says a 6am anti-doping test gave him a ‘bad night’ before Brazilian GP media duties