Paul Pogba’s economy class masterclass that made Chris Smalling a Manchester United hero forever

There are events in a person's life where they remember where they were. Most Manchester United fans (who were alive and not literal babies like I was) will remember where they were in 1999 when the club won the treble, but other landmarks are memorable because of the absurdity of the situation you find yourself in.

Back in good old 2018, which seems so long ago given what's happened between then and now, I was at university down in London but had returned to Manchester for a week. It's expensive down south and there's not much to do when you have a minimum wage bar job supporting you.

And also because it was both my parents' birthdays were within that week and I thought I might surprise them.

I had arranged my trip back perfectly, my return train booked back for the Saturday afternoon so I could back and settled and then watch the Manchester derby on the Sunday in the pub with some friends.

Then Manchester City just had to do well in the Champions League, and the dates of their quarter-finals with Liverpool meant that the game was rearranged to occur right in the middle of my journey.

I was annoyed but very reluctant to pay the fee to change my travel arrangements and, given the gap in the table between City and United and the possibility that our old rivals could win the title against us, I thought this might be a match that I would be better off missing.

The first 20 minutes that I was able to see on TV seemed to confirm my fears, United were being completely overwhelmed by City and it was only poor finishing on the home side's part that kept the game competitive.

As I got in the car I turned on BBC Radio 5Live. My mum is also a massive United fan so she was also keen to hear if United's fortunes changed. Then Vincent