Three people arrested after Manchester United fans' tennis ball protest against the Glazers halted Roma clash at Old Trafford

Three people were arrested for throwing objects onto the pitch as Manchester United fans protested against the club's ownership during Tuesday's 3-2 Champions League win over Roma. Tennis balls rained down from the Stretford End with Michael Carrick's side 2-0 down, and play was stopped while players cleared them, before a stirring second-half comeback.

The protests started before a ball had even been kicked. As the Champions League anthem was played, hundreds of green and gold balloons, the colours used to protest the Glazer family's ownership of United, were held up and bounced around the stands.

Then, in the 20th minute, with Gian Piero Gasperini's side leading 2-0, fans in the Stretford End threw green tennis balls onto the pitch. Play was stopped as United players removed them, while chants against the Glazers and minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe were also heard around Old Trafford.

Greater Manchester Police have confirmed to The Athletic that 11 arrests were made over various incidents at the game, three for items thrown onto the pitch. Four more were for assault offences, including assault of an emergency worker, two for public order offences, one for fraud and one for a drugs offence.

United fans have protested against the Glazers throughout the family's 21-year association with the club. The past two home games, the 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth and the Roma win, have been marked by anger at the owners, director of football Jason Wilcox and chief executive Omar Berrada.

The mood only lifted after the break, as United fought back to end a nine-match winless run stretching back to September. Carrick now wants far more consistency, and said on Friday: "We've just got to do things better for longer. Periods and times in certain games when you look and you like we do and you look back and you think what could we improve, what do we need to improve on, what have we lacked.

"It's been certain moments, little moments in games that we maybe haven't been quite ready for, we haven't made good decisions. That's part of football. But we can do that. We can be consistent with it. And of course, when we came in January and this hadn't been done before or whatever, that hadn't been done before, like I've just said before, anything's possible, and we can win more games of football. But we've got to go and earn that and ensure we can do it."

United are back at Old Trafford on Sunday, when they host Aston Villa in the Premier League at 4:30pm UK time.

Carrick's side are at risk of going into the international break in the relegation zone, and they will hope the backing they received in the second half against Roma carries into another huge game.