The United Review programme cover was of the Stretford End, taken from the goalframe at the opposite end. Perhaps there was a message concealed in that image: that the ball has not ended up between those posts often enough this season.
This time, the ball did. For the first time in 346 minutes. Amad's cushioned header ended an eight-game winless run in the Premier League. Manchester United hit Emiliano Martinez, posts right and left, the crossbar and anything either side of the goalframe. Amorim kicked a water bottle, Casemiro kicked the post. Amad used his head.
Soccer Aid is not until next month yet Ruben Amorim made some charitable selections and Bruno Fernandes made a charitable decision. He let Christian Eriksen take the 87th-minute penalty that confirmed Aston Villa's defeat.
[United's](https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/all-about/manchester-united-fc) first league win in two months was procured by their two best players of the season, Fernandes crossing for Amad. The Stretford End willed Fernandes to take the penalty, perhaps anticipating a valediction from the captain. The three points took United past the 40-point mark and up to a flattering 15th.
Champions League-chasing Villa were outplayed before and after they became a man light. Teams have beaten United without performing this season. Villa were beyond bad when victory would have secured a top five finish.
"Champions League, you're having a laugh," chuckled the United fans as Villa ended the season in sixth. "Premier League, you're having a laugh," came the reply.
It will have improved United fans' mood no end that Martinez's Villa career possibly ended with a first-half expulsion. Martinez saw red for cynically barging over Rasmus Hojlund after he mistimed his charge outside the area in added time of the first half.
Martinez goaded the Stretford End in 2021 with a _schadenfreude_ jig after Fernandes skied a penalty. Many in there had not forgotten that as they bid Martinez "cheerio" and offered some other forms of sign language.
For nearly three years Martinez has dined off his World Cup final-winning save from Randal Kolo Muani. Villa fans serenaded the "world's number one" when Martinez has always had a clanger in him. He was culpable for Paris Saint-Germain's goals that ejected Villa from the Champions League.
A burly United fan had some verbals with Villa staff who had the gall to dispute referee Thomas Bramall's decision. They did not part on an amicable note.
Only three changes from the anaemic Europa League final defeat to Tottenham, with Altay Bayindir and Victor Lindelof recalled for probable farewell appearances, seemed insufficient. Jonny Evans made a comeback appearance, his first in five months, before heading off into the sunset, bound for retirement.
They are still playing 'Take Me Home' in between the teams' emergence and kick-off at Old Trafford. The first time United did that in September, Liverpool wiped the floor of them. The chorus was more funereal this time.
Neither Alejandro Garnacho nor Luke Shaw were in the squad for different reasons. Neither were in the directors' box, either, as they each took a seat in their own hospitality boxes. Garnacho is unlikely to be seen at United again after he was informed he was free to leave. Shaw's contract still has two years left to run.
United fly to Kuala Lumpur for their post-season tour on Sunday evening. There were jokes at the convenient timing of the injuries to Noussair Mazraoui and Ayden Heaven. Diogo Dalot came on for Mazraoui and then went off at half-time.
'We'll never die', a chant usually reserved for the dying embers of matches, reverberated around the ground in the 11th minute to try and banish the memory of Bilbao. Amorim's chant was aired soon after, albeit not heartily and a Villa attack quickly ended its rendition. The Stretford End sang it loudly in the second half.
United were uncharacteristically enterprising in the opening minutes and Villa played as though daunted by the fact they had only won three times at Old Trafford in 42 years. That stat still stands.
Villa were afflicted with stage fright all afternoon. Unai Emery was nearer the corner flag than the dugout during a stoppage as he attempted to alert Ian Maatsen to the danger. The message did not get through, as Dalot ran off Maatsen soon after yet attempted to cushion the ball into Hojlund's path when he was one-on-one. Maatsen clumsily conceded the late penalty by treading on Amad.
The away section was one of the quietest all season until word reached Villa's followers that Newcastle United had gone behind, briefly elevating them to fifth again. Villa fans could not even summon the energy to renew their enmity with Fernandes, an antagonist on the basis of a penalty he was awarded at Villa Park during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Martinez's red card only fuelled the dread among the Brummies. Villa were so harmless that Bayindir had to run around to stay warm in blustery conditions. Bayindir will have been hot under the collar after he fumbled the ball under the advances of Morgan Rogers, who scooped the ball in.
The referee blew for a foul. The replays suggested Bayindir did not have the ball. Minutes later, the ball was in the back of the Stretford End net through Amad.