Anatomy of Rasmus Hojlund and Manchester United’s emotional celebrations

Rasmus Hojlund was entitled to a wild celebration given the wait of more than 1,000 minutes for his first Premier League goal, and his Manchester United team-mates joined him in a state of total abandon after his winner against Aston Villa.

The 20-year-old Dane’s second-half strike capped a stirring comeback from 2-0 down at Old Trafford, as United attacked with a verve and purpose rarely seen this season.

Alejandro Garnacho was the catalyst, scoring twice and seeing another goal ruled out 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 popped up off Villa midfielder John McGinn.

Cue jubilation and an atmosphere transformed after United had been booed off at half-time. These are some of the highlights.

Garnacho sinks to his knees

Perhaps exhausted by celebrating a goal that was soon disallowed by the Video Assistant Referee system – and by generally running Villa ragged – Garnacho could not make the journey across to the corner flag with the rest of his team-mates.

Instead, he plunged to his knees on the spot inside the penalty area before pulling his shorts up above his thighs. Once upon a time at Old Trafford, this was a sight that followed a Fabien Barthez mistake.

It was a happier occasion this time as Garnacho clenched both fists and screamed to the heavens.

Onana running the length of the pitch

You could say André Onana is no stranger to an unsolicited foray out of his penalty area (when he is not rooted to his line seeing a shot go past him), but given the circumstances we should not be so ungenerous.

Naturally, with 100-odd yards to make up, Onana was fashionably late to the party, but soon made his presence felt.

Doubts persist about Onana, but after Tuesday night and his last-minute penalty save against Copenhagen he has been involved in two of the more joyous moments of United’s campaign.

Bruno Fernandes’ angry happiness

Wayne Rooney cracked home a volley against Newcastle United just seconds after arguing with the referee, and there was certainly some pent up frustration in Bruno Fernandes’ celebration.

Nine minutes before Hojlund’s goal, Fernandes was booked by referee Craig Pawson for dissent, and carried on cursing and chuntering after the yellow card was awarded. Luckily for him, Michael Oliver was not in charge to give a quickfire second yellow.

While we’re sure Fernandes was delighted for Hojlund and energised by the prospect of an unlikely comeback, a perceived sense of injustice certainly added extra zest to his celebration.

Jonny Evans celebrates like a fan

Jonny Evans was a punchline earlier in the season, but is currently performing like a perfectly good central defender and is one of United’s more reliable players.

Evans is a boyhood United fan, who once revealed his father is such a diehard that he missed watching him play for Sunderland in favour of keeping up his attendance at Old Trafford.

All football fans have fantasised about how they would celebrate after scoring for their club and it would probably resemble Evans: shouting expletives at no one in particular and generally losing the run of yourself.

Hojlund overwhelmed

It had been 1,026 minutes without a Premier League goal or assist for Hojlund, so his reaction was not really about the three points that lifted United to sixth. It was about avoiding another set of headlines, questions and memes and getting his foot on the ladder as a United player.

United fans will not welcome the comparison, but there were shades of the celebrations that greeted Peter Crouch’s first goal for Liverpool in December 2005.

Crouch had suffered a 1,229-minute drought, which he thought was over when his deflected shot looped over Wigan Athletic goalkeeper Mike Pollitt. The goal was subsequently awarded as an own goal, but it did not matter, because Crouch scored his first Liverpool goal proper 23 minutes later in the same game.

Thankfully for Hojlund, there was no doubt this goal was his and even the spectre of Var could not spoil things with Villa unable to play offside from a corner.

Hojlund showed some of the agility that first attracted United by going from knee slide to standing in a fraction of a second, before closing his eyes in a moment of exaltation. In some pictures, Hojlund appears close to tearful anguish but the emotion was very much its 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 striker 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 appearances since his £72 million summer move from Atalanta and, although he has scored five goals in the Champions League this season, the sight of his volley hitting the back of the net drew a huge outpouring 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’m a lucky and happy man.

“I try not to focus too much about the media. If I did that, I would get crazy in my head. I just try to focus on my game and try to be better at the training pitch every day.

“The hard work pays off. Focus on my game, focus on winning football matches for Manchester United, focus on becoming better in front of goal and all the other attributes as well.”

Asked if he felt a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, Hojlund added: “Not at all. I just try to focus on my game and try to put myself in front of the goal all the time. Of course, there is a relief to score my first Premier League goal.

“But it isn’t like I haven’t scored goals. I’ve scored five in the Champions League. So, I was very happy and you can see the relief in my celebration.

“I am happy for that [the support of the fans]. We appreciate them a lot. They are behind us in every game.”

Alejandro Garnacho had scored twice in the space of 12 second half minutes to draw United level at 2-2 before Hojlund’s winner.

They were the first goals scored at Old Trafford by attackers in the Premier League since the end of last season and ended a run of four successive games without a goal for Erik ten Hag’s side ahead of the trip to Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

United have often struggled to provide good enough service for Hojlund this term or make the most of the runs he makes but the Dane says it is important they all find a way to connect with each other.

“I want to say I don’t care who I am playing with. I think we all play for Manchester United, so we all have our own different qualities,” he said.

“Whether I am playing with Antony, Garnacho, Rashy [Marcus Rashford], whoever is playing on the wings or in the No10 position, we have to find each other and create. I love to play with all of them. I am just a lucky man.”