Job done. Pay no attention to the caution or the mantra about the focus being on Liverpool and nothing else: Manchester United will play in the Champions League next season.
This was a tough evening and it was also a reminder of how far this club must climb if they want to be competitive on the biggest stage, but this victory over Brentford was enormous and how you could tell with the roar at the final whistle. Were they fortunate? Yes. Did it matter? No.
What counts is what happens next and that centres on Michael Carrick, the man who has masterminded this fightback. His role remains “interim manager”, but with each day and each win, the argument strengthens that the first word of that title should now be removed.
Carrick never flinched when the game ended, simply turning to Keith Andrews to shake hands, and it would not be his style to get carried away. How bluntly he reminded everyone of that when asked about an almost guaranteed place in the top five.
“It’s not something we should be over celebrating,” he said.
True, but he is the reason the mission is going to be successful and, having done such a good job, does he not deserve the chance to carry it forward? He dealt with expectation all his life as a player, he handled the pressure for this club. What is to say he will not be able to do it again?
It felt like a big night, long before kick-off. For all that this stadium’s infrastructure has suffered from a chronic lack of investment in recent years, when it is full, the lights are on and the locals are in full voice, you are reminded why this is one of football’s greatest cathedrals.
Sat in his usual spot at the back of the directors’ box, Sir Alex Ferguson would have been taken back to a time his teams, some including Carrick, swept all before them. It is never going to be the same again – how could it be? – but the mission of getting back on to the biggest stage will never change.
With all that said, it was no surprise the start was fast, red rockets whistling in all directions. There should have been a goal after 114 seconds, when Kobbie Mainoo waltzed through two tackles and teed up Amad Diallo but, somehow, Sepp van den Berg cleared off the line.
"You have to finish that for him!"Amad is unable to convert after a brilliant run from Kobbie Mainoo 😮 pic.twitter.com/oP6jBbwVDT
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 27, 2026
Diallo could not quite believe he had been thwarted and the same was true for Harry Maguire, whose thumping header from a Bruno Fernandes corner was pawed away by Caoimhim Kelleher, millimetres from it crossing the line. Could United score? They always score in this mood.
So it proved. In the 11th minute, Fernandes floated a corner to the back post, Maguire returned it to the near post with a header and arriving, right on cue, was Casemiro, towering over Dango Ouattara to head into the roof of the net. His was an outstanding individual display.
"It's what he does!" 🤷♂️Casemiro fires in a header to give Manchester United the lead over Brentford! pic.twitter.com/rQejnFOPLl
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 27, 2026
Yet, remarkably, the goal was the signal for Brentford to take hold of the game. It is no exaggeration to say they should have scored three times after going behind and Andrews, the impressive Brentford head coach, was crestfallen their endeavour was not rewarded.
A better connection from Igor Thiago at the back post, when Keane Lewis-Potter zipped a ball across the six-yard box, would have resulted in a Brentford equaliser in the 23rd minute and then, in the next attack, Michael Kayode was denied by Senne Lammens’s outstretched arm.
The worst was still to come. Thiago, one of the players of the season, found himself clean through on Lammens after a ball from Ouattara but, rather than shooting, he hesitated, took a touch then slipped over.
It prompted one of those growls to tumble out of the Stretford End, a wake-up call that ideas needed to be bucked up. When Ayden Heaven slid in to dispossess Thiago a couple of moments later, the decibels were cranked up further. This could not continue.
And it did not. Understandably pursuing their ambition, Brentford got their angles wrong just outside the United penalty area, Diogo Dalot thundered into Kevin Schade, the ball arrived at the feet of Fernandes and off he went, a matador actively pursuing his target.