Varane an unlikely hero on opening day
Manchester United needed a hero in our opening Premier League match of the season, against Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Raphael Varane was on the spot to deliver a first win of the campaign.
The centre-back stayed up as the Reds mounted sustained, frenzied pressure for one of the few times in a tight match, and was on the spot to nod in Aaron Wan-Bissaka's inviting assist, following a clever pass by skipper Bruno Fernandes.
Old Trafford erupted and it was only Varane's second goal for the club since joining from Real Madrid, with his other coming against Brentford in May 2022.
This was a seventh home game in succession to start a Premier League campaign and Varane is the first man on the scoresheet in 2023/24 after an own goal by Alexis Mac Allister was our only strike in the reverse to Brighton & Hove Albion last time around.
The Frenchman is not alone in managing some opening-match heroics, with team-mate Luke Shaw picking a good moment to notch his maiden goal in senior football during the 2-1 success against Leicester City at Old Trafford in 2018. Similarly passionate celebrations followed that effort as the left-back enjoyed the moment on home turf.
There were certainly echoes of that feeling when Rapha made the all-important breakthrough.
Varane scored five times in 93 caps before retiring from international football for France.
During his Real Madrid days, he hit the net 17 times in total, from 360 matches for the Bernabeu giants. He also grabbed a couple for his first club Lens, from only 24 appearances.
It is encouraging to see a defender off the mark already for United, as it is an area where we can definitely hope for more of an output in 2023/24.
Let's see what next weekend, at Tottenham Hotspur, will conjure up.