How Matic showed emotion at full-time

The Serbian midfielder joined the club from Chelsea in 2018 and a substitute appearance in our 3-2 victory against Norwich City was Nemanja’s 184th outing in a United shirt, and his 27th of this season.

Long before he came off the bench, the esteem in which he’s held by United’s supporters was shown. As he jogged down the touchline to warm up in the first half, his name was sung by the Stretford End. Then, he applauded the fans, and it was clear at full-time that the 33-year-old was soaking up the love in one of his final appearances for the club, as you can watch below.

In Matic’s statement announcing his intention to leave the club this summer, he paid tribute to the United fans.

“It has been a huge honour and a privilege to play for this great club,” he wrote.

“A big thank you to the fans for their unwavering support.

“I will now give everything until the end of the season to help my team-mates finish as strongly as possible.”

And it’s certainly not the first time Matic has recognised the role played by the Old Trafford crowd. After our 3-2 win against Tottenham Hotspur in March, he said the following:

“Thanks to the supporters, they helped us a lot since the warm-up, there was positive energy at the stadium.

“Thanks to them, we gave something extra on the pitch, [we could] fight for each other and, at the end, three points was possible.”

There are another six games to play in United’s season, with the Reds still fighting for a place in the Premier League’s top four. Full focus will be on achieving that goal, but there’s no doubt Nemanja will continue to savour moments like this one after an important victory.