Recalling the Patrice Evra banger that gave Man Utd 30 seconds of joy

Manchester United fans didn’t have many causes to celebrate during David Moyes’ tenure as manager, but the Scot’s time in charge did provide one fleeing moment of unbridled joy at Bayern Munich. 

Football might be a results business first and foremost, but it’s also an industry that trades in moments.

You know exactly how you’re supposed to feel at the end of a season, whether it’s resulted in a trophy win, a relegation or something in between, but the most powerful reactions come when you’re caught by surprise.

By April 2014, Moyes’ six-year deal already looked to be in jeopardy, with reigning champions United sitting seventh in the league and seven points off a top-four spot.

Worse still, a 3-0 defeat at home to Liverpool had helped breathe life into their rivals’ title charge, and Brendan Rodgers’ team sat top of the table when their rivals turned to European responsibilities.

After scraping past Olympiakos in the last 16 thanks to a Robin van Persie hat-trick, the quarter-final stage was meant to be where their journey ended. Bayern were defending champions and had wrapped up the Bundesliga title before the end of March.

Moyes’ team wasn’t even able to take a lead to the Allianz Arena, with Bastian Schweinsteiger emphatically cancelling out Nemanja Vidic’s Old Trafford opener. It was a foregone conclusion. And then, for a fleeting moment, it wasn’t.

Normally, when a game drags on at 0-0, it paves the way for tension to be ramped up. It gives the team chasing a game the belief that maybe they could sneak an upset.

Here, though, it was the opposite if anything. Run down into a place of pessimism by just a few months under Moyes, plenty of United fans had convinced themselves that a longer goalless run would simply make