United edged into the fourth round of the FA Cup after an enthralling, draining victory over holders Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.
The Reds bossed a thrilling first half in which City skipper Vincent Kompany was contentiously dismissed, and had a three-goal lead at the interval through Wayne Rooney's brace and Danny Welbeck's acrobatic volley.
To their credit, City rallied after the break and pulled goals back through Aleksander Kolarov and Sergio Aguero, and almost snatched an injury-time leveller when Anders Lindegaard had to fist away a Kolarov free-kick.
The pre-match build-up was overshadowed by the shock announcement that Scholes had reversed his retirement, signing a deal to return until the end of the season and immediately taking a place on the United bench.
Amid the furore, the news that Chris Smalling and Jonny Evans had returned from injury was almost lost. The former was fit enough to start at centre-back, with Phil Jones moving over to right-back, while Evans took a place on the bench.
Just as United could savour some rare good news on the injury front, the hosts found themselves deprived of several important players. Mario Balotelli and Edin Dzeko missed out through knocks, while Gareth Barry served a one-match ban and both Yaya and Kolo Toure reported for
