Speaking on the latest episode of UTD Podcast, which you can listen to in full from Monday 24 August, the Academy graduate retells the story of how the crunching tackle against his former club helped turn Toffees fans’ opinions on him for good.
The younger Neville brother, who moved to Goodison Park in 2005, had scored an own goal in United’s remarkable 4-2 comeback victory on Merseyside in April 2007, helping his old club take a huge step towards a first Premier League title in four years.
But Neville’s intervention on our Portuguese superstar early in the second half in the 2008/09 iteration of the fixture galvanised the Goodison crowd and ultimately inspired David Moyes’s men to a gritty 1-1 draw – following which Phil never looked back with the Blues.