No one could believe it when Marouane Fellaini was named as Manchester United's captain against Sunderland on Sunday afternoon.In Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick and Chris Smalling's absence, Jose Mourinho made the bewildering decision to give the armband to the much-maligned Belgian.Even Jamie Redknapp was shocked by the decision, with the Sky Sports pundit producing a funny reaction to being asked: "You think of the great leaders [United] have had, would you put him up there?"He bluntly responded: "No. "No, I wouldn't. You're joking? He's captain. Okay."I think they probably haven't got the leaders that Jose wants, that's why he's gone with him as captain."As the longest-serving player in United's starting line-up, Fellaini led the team out and recorded his first win as skipper.Goals from Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Marcus Rashford secured a comfortable 3-0 win to move the Red Devils above Arsenal into fifth.Of course, United's bid to win the game was boosted considerably when Sebastian Larsson was shown red for a nasty challenge on Ander Herrera.Fellaini was clearly happy with the result judging by the tweet he posted afterwards (see below).

He wrote: "Important 3 points - great team effort & very proud to be captain today 😊 #MUFC."

And United's fans reacted hilariously, with Fellaini receiving an onslaught of sarcastic comments about how he's a club legend and that they've never lost a game with him as captain.

TWITTER REACTS

'Captain. Leader. Legend' - now that's a phrase you never thought would be associated with Fellaini.

Luckily for the Belgium international, United bagged all three points at the Stadium of Light, because if they had lost, he would have been absolutely ruined.

Victory means Mourinho's men are once again within touching distance of the top four, with Manchester City four points ahead having played one more game.

United could even catch Liverpool in third because they're six points behind and have two games in hand. How the tables have turned.