There was a time when Manchester City won at Old Trafford and it was Jonny Evans’ fault. This wasn’t it; not really, not when he was a cause of defeat but, more than anything, a symptom of Manchester United’s malaise. A decade into life after Sir Alex Ferguson, with well over £1bn spent, with more than £400m going on new players in Erik ten Hag’s reign, the man challenged with stopping Erling Haaland was Evans, the final throwback to Ferguson’s era.
Haaland escaped him and eluded him. Evans left him utterly unmarked to head in Bernardo Silva’s cross for his second goal, even if the mitigating factor was the presence of Rodri; he wandered off to police the Champions League final scorer instead. Evans left him again when Haaland set up Phil Foden for City’s third; when Andre Onana parried Rodri’s shot, Evans was caught dozing, the striker speeding past him to tee up the Mancunian.
