Following the capitulation at Stamford Bridge, you sensed that manager, team and fans all desperately needed this win and the collective sense of purpose that permeated Old Trafford brought a performance and victory that was more convincing than the scoreline suggests.
This was not a close encounter settled by a single goal. After sparring with their city rivals for half an hour, United stepped up and produced a commanding second half performance that answered a lot of questions raised by those much- criticised smiles and shirt exchanges at the end of Sunday's game.
Both sides had looked edgy in the early stages but the Reds had begun to probe the city rearguard with more intent and, following the interval, they took the game to city in front of a noisy Stretford End. With Carrick pulling the strings in midfield and Pogba and Herrera pushing further forward, United's play began to match the passion of the crowd and within ten minutes of the restart they'd scored the goal that proved crucial.
Ibrahimovic had set free Pogba a few minutes earlier only for the Frenchman's shot to be saved by Caballero. It was a sign that the Swede was beginning to influence proceedings, however, and when he out-muscled his marker to break free on the left, his ball into the area found Mata, who stroked the ball neatly past the keeper.
It was no more than the Reds deserved and, although city had more of the possession as the game went on, they never looked like testing De Gea. United's makeshift central defensive partnership of Rojo and Blind stood firm and, in Valencia, they possessed a player who combined defensive maturity with a constant attacking threat on the break.
Although the Reds failed to add to their tally, the lack of further goals to cement their dominance was of little concern to the celebrating United fans who hailed not merely victory over local rivals and progression to the quarter-finals of this competition, but an emphatic and much-needed response to that embarrassment at Chelsea.
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