6 Tackles & A Screamer: Why Patrice Evra Deserves Credit For His Performance vs Bayern Munich

Patrice Evra is a defender who splits opinions across Premier League fans but last night he turned up and had a stormer against reigning European champions Bayern Munich. He looked back to his best in the clash which caused me to have a deeper dig into his performance. So, with that in mind, I jumped over to a number of statistic sites and gathered some data.

Something that has been criticised in the Frenchman’s game is his positioning. Although he has proved himself to be one of the most able left-backs in Europe, this season he has been caught out a couple of times and has no longer got the pace to make up for his mistakes. Last night he was superb.

He had 50 touches of the ball, made six tackles and four clearances.

Ignoring his stunner for now, Evra was also strong in getting forward. His delivery looked much improved and the way he linked up with Danny Welbeck down the left was great to see (as a Manchester United fan).

Back to that goal. After an Antonio Valencia cross was cleared to the edge of the area, Evra pounced and rifled it into the back of the net, via the woodwork.

He’s taken a lot of stick this season, but he deserves a lot of credit for last night.