Revealed: Chicharito's favourite United goal

Chicharito found the back of the net 59 times in 157 appearances for the Reds between 2010 and 2015, often coming off the bench to make a vital late impact.

But this particular strike was scored in the opening minute of the game, as we beat the second-placed Blues to extend the advantage at the top of the Premier League table to a decisive six points, with just two fixtures left to play.

“Thankfully I could pick a couple of goals or many, you know, but I think I have one,” Javier recalls, in an exclusive, feature-length interview with MUTV’s Zarah Connolly.

“[Former chief scout] Jim Lawlor said it to me as well - I think it's one of the most important goals that I scored for Manchester United and as well it was one of my favourite goals. It was the one that I scored against Chelsea after 32 seconds.

“Jim even gave me a painting that a guy from Ireland did, of that image when I'm just scoring and Petr Cech is just going down and I think that goal, [is so important] because what it meant, you know? Playing in Old Trafford against our rivals who are fighting for the title and 32 seconds in, you have a 1v1 in front of the goal and then just put it in the back of the net…

“Vida scored a goal, but then Didier [Drogba] scored to make it 2-1. Then things get a little bit complicated, but in the end we got the three points and that gave us the gap, so we could clinch it later on, my first Premier League in my first season over there.”

Hernandez went on to reveal that he’s still in touch with some of the players he shared top-flight success with in 2011 and, later, in 2013, as well as Sir Alex Ferguson.

“It’s not constant, but the guys that I have more contact with are Antonio Valencia, Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand and the boss, because we text a couple of times,” he added.

“I text him when his wife passed away and then he text me when I tore my ACL [with LA Galaxy in June 2023].

“We’ve been in contact, you know, not daily, and I talk with the other guys, I talk with them because of projects or because I know them as well.

“You know, I'm very close with him, you know, and we talk more often. I've been in contact with the twins as well, with Rafa and Fabio, but it’s sporadic.

“It’s not that you speak every single day because of course one of the beauties of this sport is you can meet such amazing human beings, but as well, sometimes our paths are not the same for long periods of time.

“So you need to move to different countries and different teams, and then you cannot spend as much time with them.”