Michael Carrick is an instant reminder of the glory days at Manchester United. The manager who returned them to the Champions League was a player who won it. When United were the biggest club who were not in Europe last year, they turned to a man who conquered it. As they make their comeback in the Champions League, it is under a man who knows what it is like to win it and who hopes to experience it again.
“As a one-off feeling and instant kind of emotion, definitely winning the Champions League is the best feeling I’ve been lucky enough to have as a footballer,” Carrick said. “The longevity and playing over a period of time gives you a lot of satisfaction as a footballer to have a career, but to win the Champions League for me was the ultimate and was the best feeling I’ve had. It would be nice someday to feel that again.”
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If the last line was an aside, there is an ambition to Carrick. He knows what United was and imagines what it could be again. An opener against the champions of Azerbaijan, Sabah, may be a far cry from some of his meetings with Barcelona and Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and AC Milan, but Carrick hopes it is the start of something in the Champions League.
Michael Carrick is tasked with ensuring Man United Champions League return goes smoothly (Reuters)
“It’s a magical competition,” he said. “I think we’ve all seen some special, special nights and felt some special things in this competition over the years. We’re capable of doing some really good things in this competition. We’re delighted to be here, but we’re not here to just enjoy the occasion. We’re here to do business and go as far as we possibly can.”
But what can United possibly do? They do not kick off among the tournament favourites, perhaps not even in the group of fancied outsiders either. The Champions League tends to reward those with a recent pedigree in it; the goals George Best, Bobby Charlton and Brian Kidd scored in the 1968 European Cup final count for little now.
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United have finished 15th in the Premier League since they last played in the Champions League. Their exile spanned 1,003 days. Their most recent campaign in it was an ignominious failure, United propping up a group including FC Copenhagen and Galatasaray.
Man United crashed out of the Champions League at the group in their most recent appearance (PA)
“I think we’ve got to be humble enough and realistic enough to know where we’re coming from and where we want to get to,” said Carrick. Whereas he played in three finals in the space of four seasons, in the 13 years since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, United have only featured in two quarter-finals: in 2013-14, with Carrick in David Moyes’ midfield, and in 2018-19, with Carrick on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s backroom staff.
That Moyes and Solskjaer went further than the Champions League winners Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho with United may sound illogical but bode well for Carrick.
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There is a gulf between the distant past and the more modern failings, between high aspirations and some of the underachievement. “I think to be humble enough to understand what recent history we’ve had, and it doesn’t take away the drive and the desire and the expectation from all of us to want to be really, really successful,” reflected Carrick. “We want the expectation, we want the hope and the belief that we can achieve things quickly.”
Carrick has guided Manchester United back to the promised land of the Champions League (PA Wire)
Which, in fairness, he did last season: when Ruben Amorim was sacked, United wanted a top-five finish. But it was Carrick’s transformative first fortnight, with wins over Manchester City and Arsenal, that turned a possibility into a probability.
The Champions League, in a way, made Carrick the United manager; qualifying for it turned an interim figure into someone with more staying power. He earned his right to manage in it. “It’s where we want to be, it’s what we want to get back to, and it’s the best competition to challenge yourself,” he explained.
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He passed his own test in it. He had one Champions League game in charge in 2021, following Solskjaer’s sacking. He benched Bruno Fernandes and beat Villarreal 2-0 in Spain. Now United’s group stage will end with a return there.
Man United beat Villarreal 2-0 when Carrick was briefly in temporary charge back in 2021 (Getty)
It will be instructive to see where United eventually figure in the 36-team table, an evaluation of how far they are from justifying Carrick’s confidence and seeing if a 2008 Champions League winner can get that feeling again.
And yet, in a way, Carrick’s more significant task this season is simply to ensure that United don’t go 1,000 days without a Champions League game again, that they chalk up enough Premier League points to book a swift return.
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“It’s not something that you can take for granted, what it takes to be there and what it takes to stay there,” he said. “We’ve missed out on it for a number of years, and now we’re back.”
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