Carrick Hails Character

Michael Carrick says United’s mental strength propelled Sir Alex's men to victory on Wednesday night.

Carrick scored the winner in the Reds' 2-1 come-from-behind win at Old Trafford, but not before Ryan Giggs had restored parity following Edin Dzeko’s 55th-minute strike.

“When we went a goal down we stepped up and still believed we could win the game,” Carrick told MUTV.

“There’s a lot of belief, confidence and trust in each other in our squad. And I think that’s shown this season through the amount of goals we’ve scored in the latter stages of matches.

“Fitness helps too, but the character and the mental strength we have certainly helps.

“It’s never ideal going a goal down but when it does happen we always believe we can bounce back.”

Carrick’s goal was his 13th in a United shirt and his third in European competition. The strike sealed victory for Sir Alex’s men and sent the Reds top of Group B, three points clear of Wolfsburg and CSKA Moscow.

“It’s always important to get off to a good start in your group,” he said. “The win in Turkey two weeks ago was a big result – to win in that environment, away from home, was tough but we came through that test and tonight we’ve built on that momentum.

“Wolfsburg are a good side and their strikers caused us problems. But we knew what to expect and fair play to them – they came and played football and gave us a good game.

“I think we defended well and played some good football – sometimes luck just didn’t fall for us at tiems. But we’ve won the game and we’re happy with that.

“It was nice to score, too. I don’t get many goals so I guess I need to appreciate the ones I do get.”