Carrick's reaction to win over Gunners

Our former midfielder oversaw the win at Villarreal, draw at Chelsea and excellent triumph over the in-form Gunners, as Old Trafford saluted a spirited performance from the boys in red.

Bruno Fernandes levelled Emile Smith Rowe's controversial opener and Cristiano Ronaldo edged the hosts in front. Although Martin Odegaard quickly equalised, the Norwegian fouled Fred inside the box to allow Ronaldo the chance to ram in the 801st goal of his illustrious career, which claimed the three points.

After the game, Michael spoke to MUTV, Amazon Prime Video and at his press conference...

WHY I'M LEAVING

"It wasn’t an easy decision by any stretch. Anyone that knows me knows how much I love the club. When you’re here you’ve got to dedicate everything and my life has revolved around this place for so long. I did promise my family when I finished playing we’d have some time to spend together and that never happened because I jumped into the coaching role. As things pan out, things happen for a reason and it felt natural to make that decision. It wasn’t easy but I’m not going anywhere. I’ll still be around supporting the boys here and away. My son’s desperate to go to the away days, supporting the boys. I’ve told them I’m doing that and I’ll be supporting them. But yeah it’s the right thing to do for me and my family."

“100 per cent my decision. 100 per cent my decision. Just over the last week really. I was conscious that I respected the club and I respected the manager coming in and I wanted to make the decision before I had any contact with them, or spoke to him, there was no crossover whatsoever, and I thought it was the right thing to do for the club as much as for Ralf [Rangnick] and once I made the decision, that was final and I was quite happy with that.”

LOYALTY TO OLE A FACTOR?

“A little bit yeah, of course it was because I owe Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] an awful lot. There’s a lot of things that have come into my decision it wasn’t an easy one and I just said to the players and the staff the way we’ve worked together – good, good people in there. Sometimes, you get what you deserve, sometimes you don’t. I’ve worked so hard to try and bring some success here in recent years. It’s hard to take, when you don’t quite get to them heights, but great times, great memories. I'm proud of the players over the last three games and, tonight, they gave everything and in some ways, it was the perfect night, but it’s not about me it’s about the players and the club.”

DID THE PLAYERS KNOW?

“I just told them about five minutes ago. [They were a] Bit shocked yeah, bit surprised, a little bit emotional in the changing room to be honest but I kind of expected that. I held it together just about but yeah, it’s not been easy to keep it away from people, I must admit over the last few days. But I had a job to do you know and I was desperate to win the game for the club and for the fans and for the players so I’m not the important one here.”

RONALDO'S IMPACT

"I just think seeing how he goes about his business, his mentality, attitude and obviously quality. To score so many goals, it's incredible. He's been terrific this week, especially for me, the things I've asked of him and the way he's gone about his business around the players. He's been absolutely top, top drawer. So it's no surprise he scores again tonight, it's the perfect ending really."

DING-DONG BATTLE

"All today, I'd had a feeling it was going to be an old-school classic in many ways and even getting to the game tonight, coming on the pitch an hour before, I could feel there was a certain atmosphere about the place and an energy. It just panned out like that. It was probably the ideal game really, a perfect night. A bit of a ding-dong of a game, end to end, not sure what's going to happen next. To win the game like that was terrific. I think, for everyone, it was good, for the fans to see that, for the players to sample that and experience that again was great."

ARSENAL'S OPENING GOAL

"If that was the winning goal, it would be a different conversation altogether. It means a lot less now but it was very strange. I don't know. I don't really know. I've never seen a goal where the goalkeeper is down injury and the goal has gone in and been given. Maybe it was complicated but I don't know. To be honest, it's maybe not worth me getting involved. I was just glad we went on to win the game and it didn't become an issue."

A HUG WITH BRUNO

"Bruno was still moaning I didn't play him last week! I know he wasn't happy at all but he came on [at Chelsea] and changed the game for us and made the difference for us. I know that I've only been in this role for quite a short time but I always understand what players are like. Listen, I've worked with the players closely for so long now. We've got great respect for each other. I'm almost one of them, we're in it together and there have been some good times and tougher times. It's life I suppose. That's football. Going forward, I hope tonight turns out to be a big result for the boys and give them the belief. Hopefully, tonight turns the corner for them and they can go on a good run of games and finish the season strongly."

TONIGHT FELT DIFFERENT

"Hopefully, it will turn out to be a huge win. Both games over the last week or so, the Villarreal game was massive, to win the Champions League group was massive. Chelsea was a test and the boys had to dig in and show a certain spirit. But tonight was different. It felt different. There was a real togetherness. The fans, from the start, were amazing and the boys felt that and it drove them on. It's what we've come to love about this place for so long and hopefully there's many more of these types of games pretty soon and these type of nights."