Rasmus Hojlund was entitled to a wild celebration considering the wait of over a thousand minutes for his first goal in the Premier League, and his Manchester United teammates joined him in a state of total surrender after his winner against Aston Villa.
The 20-year-old Dane completed a thrilling comeback from 2-0 down at Old Trafford with his second-half goal as United attacked with a verve and purpose rarely seen this season.
Alejandro Garnacho was the catalyst, scoring twice and seeing another goal disallowed for a tight offside decision, as his pace repeatedly caused Unai Emery’s high line problems.
Hojlund’s goal was an instinctive side-foot volley in the 82nd minute, after a United corner had deflected off Villa midfielder John McGinn.
The cheering and atmosphere changed after United were booed at half-time. These are some highlights.
Garnacho drops to his knees
Perhaps exhausted by celebrating a goal that was quickly disallowed by the Video Assistant Referee system – and generally leaving Villa running ragged – Garnacho was unable to make the journey to the corner flag with the rest of his teammates.
Instead, he dropped to his knees at the spot in the penalty area before pulling his shorts up above his thighs. Once upon a time there was a spectacle at Old Trafford that followed a Fabien Barthez mistake.
This time it was a happier occasion as Garnacho clenched both his fists and shouted to the heavens.
Onana walks across the entire field
You could say that André Onana is no stranger to an unsolicited exit from his penalty area (if he isn’t stuck on his line when he sees a shot go past him), but given the circumstances we shouldn’t be so ungenerous.
Naturally, with about a hundred yards to make up, Onana was fashionably late to the party, but he soon made his presence felt.
Doubts remain about Onana, but after Tuesday night and his last-minute penalty save against Copenhagen, he has been involved in two of the most joyous moments of United’s campaign.
Wayne Rooney volleyed home against Newcastle United just seconds after arguing with the referee and there was certainly some pent-up frustration during Bruno Fernandes’ celebration.
Nine minutes before Hojlund’s goal, Fernandes was shown a yellow card by referee Craig Pawson for dissent, and continued to curse and shout after the yellow card was awarded. Fortunately for him, Michael Oliver was not in charge and gave a quick second yellow card.
While we’re sure Fernandes was excited for Hojlund and energized by the prospect of an unlikely comeback, a perceived sense of injustice certainly added spice to his celebration.
Jonny Evans was a decisive factor earlier this season but is currently performing as a fine centre-half and is one of United’s more reliable players.
Evans is a childhood United fan, who once revealed that his father was such a diehard that he missed seeing him play for Sunderland so he could maintain his presence at Old Trafford.
All football fans have fantasized about how they would celebrate after scoring for their club, and it would probably look like Evans: shouting expletives at no one in particular and generally losing track of yourself.
Hojlund overwhelmed
It had been 1,026 minutes without a goal or assist in the Premier League for Hojlund, so his response wasn’t really about the three points that lifted United into sixth place. It was about avoiding another round of headlines, questions and memes and getting his foot on the ladder as a United player.
United fans won’t welcome the comparison, but there were shades of the celebrations that greeted Peter Crouch’s first goal for Liverpool in December 2005.
Crouch was in the midst of a 1,229-minute goal drought which he thought was over when his deflected shot went over Wigan Athletic goalkeeper Mike Pollitt. The goal was subsequently awarded as an own goal, but it did not matter as Crouch scored his first Liverpool goal 23 minutes later in the same match.
Fortunately for Hojlund, there was no doubt that this goal was his and not even Var’s specter could spoil things as Villa were unable to play offside from a corner.
Hojlund showed some of the agility that initially attracted United by going from knee slide to standing in a split second, before closing his eyes in a moment of rapture. In some photos, Hojlund appears almost tearful, but the emotion was almost the opposite.
Hojlund: I would have gone ‘crazy in my head’ if I had listened to doubters
Rasmus Hojlund says he would have gone “crazy in my head” if he had paid too much attention to his critics.
But the Manchester United forward admitted his “relief” at claiming his first Premier League goal for the club was reflected in his emotional celebrations against Aston Villa.
The Dane’s winner was his first league goal in 15 games since his £72million summer transfer from Atalanta and although he has scored five goals in the Champions League this season, the sight of his volley into the back of the net caused a huge deluge. of emotion.
“You can see the relief in my celebration… but also the feeling of being the match winner and getting the three points at home against a good opponent,” Hojlund said. “I am a happy and fortunate man.
“I try not to focus too much on the media. If I did that, I would go crazy in my head. I just try to focus on my game and try to be better every day on the training pitch.
“The hard work is rewarded. Focus on my game, focus on winning football matches for Manchester United, focus on getting better in front of goal and all the other attributes as well.”
When asked if he felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, Hojlund replied: “Not at all. I just try to focus on my game and try to put myself in front of goal all the time. Of course it’s a relief to score my first Premier League goal.
“But it’s not like I didn’t score any goals. I scored five in the Champions League. So I was very happy and you can see the relief in my celebration.
“I’m happy about that [the support of the fans]. We appreciate them enormously. They are behind us every game.”
Alejandro Garnacho had scored twice in the space of 12 minutes in the second half to draw United level at 2-2 before Hojlund’s winner.
They were the first goals scored by strikers in the Premier League at Old Trafford since the end of last season and ended a run of four consecutive games without a goal for Erik ten Hag’s side ahead of their trip to Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
United have often struggled this season to serve Hojlund well enough or get the most out of the runs he makes, but the Dane says it is important that they all find a way to connect.
“I want to say that it doesn’t matter to me who I play with. “I think we all play for Manchester United, so we all have our own qualities,” he said.
“Whether I play with Antony, Garnacho, Rashy [Marcus Rashford], whoever plays on the wings or in the number 10 position, we have to find each other and create. I enjoy playing with them all. I’m just a happy man.”