The night belonged to Jonny
Ten years after a classic United goal, a man who was there to see it managed to recreate it
FIVE ASIDES Premier League: Burnley 0, United 1
Do you remember where you were on the night of Monday 22 April 2013? Because Jonny Evans clearly does. He was at Old Trafford, playing for United against Aston Villa, lining up at the back alongside Rafael, Phil Jones and Patrice Evra. He received a high mark from WhoScored.com, 7.4 out of ten, while not getting a mention in the Guardian match report. United needed a win to seal the Premier League title, their 20th. Any win would do, but this was a special one. Robin van Persie helped himself to a hat-trick and his second goal, the one in the 13th minute that turned a big night into a breeze, has never been forgotten.
Wayne Rooney, playing in deep midfield next to Michael Carrick, received the ball in the right-half zone. He took a couple of touches, looked up, saw van Persie lurking with intent at inside-left and sent him a glorious chip, with some added backspin to make it hang in the air. Van Persie ran forwards while also looking back, over his shoulder, and hit a first-time left-foot volley that blazed into the far corner of the net.
Ten years on, Rooney and Carrick are club managers, Van Persie is coaching Feyenoord’s teenagers, and United have an injury crisis. Erik ten Hag, unable to start any of his preferred back four at Burnley, felt that Evans would bring some ‘calm and composure’ to a defence that had shipped 14 goals in five games. Little did he realise that Evans would also bring a mirror image of the Van Persie goal.
It was the 45th minute, just about the perfect time to take the lead. Evans, in the centre circle, recreated the Rooney chip – backspin and all – with his left foot. Bruno Fernandes broke through the back line and hit the volley with his right, sending it low past young Trafford in the Burnley goal. Just like Van Persie, although under slightly more pressure from the nearest defender, he displayed an impeccable technique and a clinical mentality. It was the best moment of United’s season so far, even better than Marcus Rashford’s screamer at Arsenal, which we were able to enjoy for a full half a minute before Martin Odegaard’s riposte.
Fernandes was named Player of the Match at Turf Moor by Ally McCoist, but he handed the trophy over to Evans and rightly so. André Onana and Hannibal Mejbri played well too, and so did Fernandes, but the night belonged to Evans. He helped secure a clean sheet, scored a goal that was disallowed (through no fault of his own), and made sure Sergio Reguilon, so fluent going forward, remembered to do his job in defence. Evans made his United debut in 2007, before Vincent Kompany ever played for City, and here he was 16 years later, winning all four of his duels against Kompany’s bright young things. He clocked up the most touches by a United player (79), the most clearances on either side (eight), and the equal-fewest tackles (none). He may be old, at 35, but he’s not old-school: he’s a modern ball-playing defender.
In the team, Evans replaced Lisandro Martinez as the left-sided centre-back, the role Ten Hag is so picky about that he won’t let Harry Maguire occupy it. In the squad, Evans has replaced David de Gea – as the father of the house, the one player left from the golden age, the last man standing who knows how it feels to lord it in the Premier League.
Not that Evans is at all lordly. He’s humble, smiley, thoughtful (nine GCSEs, all A or A*), and immensely grateful to be back at his boyhood club, 26 years after he was invited to join the United Centre of Excellence in Belfast. This was his 200th United appearance and, he said, ‘the best night of my life’. His assist didn’t merely give United the win they so sorely needed. It gave the travelling support something to sing about. It was more than just good news: it was a great story.
Tim de Lisle, a United fan since the days of David Sadler, is the editor of United Writing and a sportswriter at The Guardian. If you’re on Twitter, do follow him and United Writing.