Dalot says United’s Roma comeback showed fans the players care

Diogo Dalot believes Manchester United’s 3-2 comeback victory against Roma in the Champions League can transform their troubled season and demonstrate to unhappy supporters that the players care. Tuesday’s win at Old Trafford came after the home side were booed off at half-time, turning a night of frustration into a potential source of encouragement.

According to The Guardian Sport, the full-back saw significance in both the result and the response it offered to supporters questioning the team. His assessment presents the comeback as a possible turning point, rather than evidence that United’s wider difficulties have already been resolved.

Those difficulties are particularly apparent in the Premier League, where United have taken seven points from their opening nine matches. The Guardian described that return as the club’s worst start since 1987-88, providing the backdrop to the anger surrounding their European fixture and the importance attached to a recovery.

Supporters’ dissatisfaction was visible before kick-off, with another protest against the Glazer family’s ownership. Thousands of green and gold balloons were released from the Stretford End, ensuring that opposition to the owners remained a prominent feature of the occasion even before attention turned to the match itself.

The protest continued during play as the home crowd sang anti-Glazer songs and threw tennis balls onto the pitch. That action came with the clock showing 20 minutes and five seconds, a reference to 2005, the year the family took ownership of United.

The Guardian reported that the Glazers have loaded £1.2 billion of debt onto the club since taking over. The ownership dispute therefore formed a distinct part of the evening’s unrest, alongside dissatisfaction with a team whose league results have left supporters with little reason for reassurance.

The half-time boos showed that frustration also extended directly to events on the field. Against that background, recovering to beat Roma gave Dalot a basis for arguing that the players’ commitment should not be dismissed, even while their performances and results remain under scrutiny.

A Champions League victory does not change the points already dropped in the Premier League, nor does it address the grievances behind the ownership protests. Its immediate value is more limited but still meaningful: United emerged with a win from a match in which the crowd had made its displeasure unmistakable.

Whether the comeback can carry the wider significance Dalot envisages will depend on what follows. For now, his view is that the response against Roma offers something on which United can build, while the contrast between their European recovery and poor league start leaves the proposed turnaround unproven.