Glory nights in Europe
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Glory nights in Europe 25 - 21
As the Champions League reconvenes, weÂ’ve nominated UnitedÂ’s 25 most memorable performances in Europe.
Through individual, or collective efforts, itÂ’s a lifetime of magic moments, from Old Trafford to Turin and PlymouthÂ…
25.
United 4 Real Madrid 3
Champions League, quarter-final, second leg, Old Trafford, 23 April 2003
Ultimately, United exited the competition. But as an advert for the club – and the game – at its best, this had twists and turns that Hollywood scriptwriters can only dream of. Chasing the seemingly impossible task of turning round a 3-1 first-leg deficit, things got worse when Ronaldo fired Madrid ahead on 12 minutes. Van Nistelrooy offered hope before the break, before Ronaldo restored the Spaniards’ advantage. No matter, the Reds came again, Helguera turning into his own net. Then Ronaldo, later substituted to a standing ovation, completed his hat-trick. Madrid-bound-Beckham and Van Nistelrooy made it 4-3 with five left, two goals needed.
It was too much to ask, but UnitedÂ’s never-say-die spirit was spine-tingling.
24.
United 3 Fiorentina 1
Champions League, Group B, Old Trafford, 15 March 2000
After stuttering displays in the early group stages, the Reds rediscovered some stirring form, booking a quarter-final place with a game to spare. After the shock of Gabriel Batistuta’s 15th-minute long-range belter, United delivered a three-goal riposte. Cole equalised four minutes later before Keane was fastest to react when a Henning Berg header came back off the bar. Dwight Yorke made the game safe. Sir Bobby Charlton was in no doubt about United’s total mastery. “We didn’t beat just beat them – we humiliated them.”
23.
United 4 Galatasaray 0
Champions League, Phase 1, Old Trafford, 7 December 1994
Twelve months earlier, a trip to Istanbul had proved terrifying on and off the pitch, all police batons and quaint banners such
as ‘Welcome to the Hell’, which, though amusing grammatically, was deeply unpleasant. Memories of that night, and Eric Cantona’s subsequent four-match ban having had the temerity to protest at being punched, were massaged by this rout. Okay, so United were out, but the scoreline offered some consolation, and is worth noting for
a first senior goal by a lad called David
Beckham. Whatever happened to him?
22.
United 2 St Etienne 0
European Cup-WinnersÂ’ Cup, 2nd round, 2nd leg, Home Park, Plymouth, 5 October 1977
A real collector’s item. Following trouble in the drawn away leg against the-then dominant force in French football, provoked by the surreal sight of travelling Reds being pelted with bread, United were forced to play the return leg at the rather arbitrary distance of 200 miles from Old Trafford – namely Plymouth. The Home Park gate was duly swelled to 31,634, and in the town in which Francis Drake supposedly finished a game of bowls before seeing off the Spanish Armada, the French were bowled over by goals from Steve Coppell and Stuart Pearson.
21.
United 6 Willem II 1
European Cup WinnersÂ’ Cup, first round, second-leg, Old Trafford, 15 October 1963
Six years out of European competition and having looked ring-rusty in a 1-1 draw in the first leg, United came home in style against this Dutch opposition. Maurice Setters set the tone as early as the sixth minute, but from then on it was the LawmanÂ’s story. The goalscorer extraordinaire, just back from injury, declares himself in rude health, thumping home four. Bobby Charlton, Phil Chisnall and Law are all on target within four minutes in a blinding three-minute second-half spell. The fact that the visitorsÂ’ reply was an own goal from captain Noel Cantwell said it all.
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Glory nights in Europe 20-16
With the Champions League starting up again this week, ManUtd.com continues the countdown of classic European encounters with positions 20-16...
20.
Juventus 0 United 3
Champions League, Phase 2, Stadio Delle Alpi, 25 February 2003
“Giggs: Magnifico!” admitted a shell-shocked Italian press as a rampaging, Ryan-inspired Reds rocked the Old Lady with a magical first-half display, backed by a rocklike solidity throughout with Roy Keane as makeshift centre-half. Giggs was only on the pitch for 41 minutes, replacing the injured Diego Forlan before hobbling off himself, but the damage he wreaked was irretrievable – and cemented a quarter-final place, inflicting the Italians’ biggest home defeat in Europe. He sidefooted home on 15 minutes before running diagonally from the half-way line, past two defenders before slipping the ball past Buffon. Majestic.
19.
Deportivo La Coruña 0 United 2
Champions League, quarter-final, first leg, Estadio de Riazor, 2 April 2002
Utterly convincing in every department against the hotly tipped Spaniards, Ryan Giggs, given a free hand while Paul Scholes played on the left, was a constant menace in the Estadio de Riazor. The Reds’ second victory on Spanish soil – (do you remember the first time?) – featured a peach from Beckham on 15 minutes, chipping Molina from 35 yards. Van Nistelrooy doubled the advantage before the break and even the departure of Keano could not dampen the spirits on a night when Giggs also had one cleared off the line and Ole Solskjaer hit the Spaniards’ woodwork.
18.
Feyenoord 1 United 3
Champions League, Phase 1, De Kuip Stadium, 5 November 1997
This was a night on which the feeling United were growing in European stature was inescapable. Andy Cole (‘like a dog out of the traps’, said the boss) notched the club’s first Euro hat-trick since Denis Law against Waterford in 1968 – his third, a tap-in after a fine move involving Gary Pallister and Ryan Giggs, all but securing a quarter-final spot. The hosts did everything to spoil the party – a nasty stamp on Denis Irwin and a hostile atmosphere left a taste so sour United players refused to swap shirts. Travelling Reds had the last laugh by singing ‘Ajax’
at their hosts.
17.
Red Star Belgrade 3 United 3
European Cup, second round, second leg, 5 February 1958
A second successive journey into the last four promised big things for Busby’s Euro pioneers, and the grit shown here was immense. A baying, weapon-toting crowd, biting cold and slushy surface couldn’t put off the Reds as they ran rings round Red Star in the first-half, with goals from Dennis Viollet and two from Charlton, the first a 40-yard piledriver. Leading 5-1 on aggregate at half-time, the game looked up for the hosts, but thanks to some liberal refereeing and tackling best described as agricultural – “it was like the Alamo”, in the words of Albert Scanlon – the Reds held on to a dream tragically never realised.
16.
United 3 Juventus 2
Champions League, Group B, Old Trafford, 1 October 1997
Faces were rather glum when Alessandro del Piero breached the RedsÂ’ defence after just 19 seconds. And with Roy Keane damaging his cruciate ligament a week earlier at Leeds, the chances of knocking the tabs out of the VHS tape of this one when you got home looked slimmer than a hermitÂ’s address book. Juve after all, had done the Reds twice the previous season.
Not this time. Teddy Sheringham levelled before the break, sub Paul Scholes got a second 20 minutes from time and the outstanding Ryan Giggs the third. The boss was purring. “As we have seen before, when the pot starts to boil at Old Trafford, there is no way you can keep the lid on.”
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Glory nights in Europe 15-11
With the Champions League starting up again this week, ManUtd.com continues the countdown of classic European encounters with positions 15-11...
15.
United 2 Inter Milan 0
Champions League, quarter-final, first leg, 3 March 1999
The fact that Sir Alex had his reservations about what he called a ‘fragmented’ performance against Inter shows exactly the kind of sweet spots United were hitting as the hurdles to the Treble were cleared. David Beckham’s dead-ball masterclass set up Dwight Yorke for a sixth-minute header to ease the nerves, and he followed with another cross six minutes before half-time for Andy Cole to double the advantage. Though Milan battled to the death, our old friend Diego Simeone having a goal disallowed and Henning Berg clearing one off the line, United’s rearguard held firm.
14.
Brondby 2 United 6
Champions League, Group D, 21 October 1998
So much for the ‘Group of Death’. United returned to Peter Schmeichel’s old patch with a merciless attacking display featuring five goalscorers. Ryan Giggs served notice of a long night ahead for the hosts on two minutes, gleefully accepting a spilled cross. Further goals from Giggs and Cole – after a dazzling exchange with Dwight Yorke – before the interval were followed by three in seven second-half minutes from Keane, Yorke and Solskjaer (with his first touch) and the Reds went top of the group. Best away team to visit the land of Carlsberg? Probably.
13.
United 10 Anderlecht 0
European Cup, preliminary round, second leg, Maine Road, 26 September 1956
Stuart Hall’s ‘Here come the Belgians’ was a catchphrase staple on the BBC’s It’s A Knockout. Knockout was about the size of it at Maine Road – scene of United’s biggest European victory, at the first attempt. Though playing a team including part-timers, United, inspired by the lethal Tommy Taylor-Dennis Viollet combo (three and four goals respectively) were on fire. Five goals came in each half – Billy Whelan (two) and Johnny Berry completed the scoring – and it could have been more, such was the Red tide.
12.
United 6 Fenerbahce 2
Champions League, Group D, Old Trafford, 24 September 2004
As if to the manner born, Wayne Rooney terrorised the TurksÂ’ defence on his Old Trafford debut with an unforgettable one-man show. His first doubled the seventh-minute lead given by Giggs, striding forward to smack the ball high past Rustu Recber with his left foot. His second, with the right, saw him combine with Giggs for a blistering low shot and the third was a delicious, curling free-kick from the edge of the box. The first Red to score a debut hat-trick since Charlie Sagar in 1905, if the world didnÂ’t know his name before, it sure did when the following dayÂ’s newspapers hit the streets.
11.
United 3 Benfica 2
European Cup, quarter-final, first leg, Old Trafford, 9 March 1966
Events the following week in Lisbon put the seal on a terrific win against Eusebio et al – and also wiped the grins from the faces of Otto Gloria’s side, as they left the pitch here thinking defeat by the odd goal in five would carry them through on home soil. United’s gritty performance, recovering from Augusto’s early strike to win a pulsating encounter with goals from David Herd, Denis Law and Bill Foulkes and announcing Busby’s third great team as one worthy of facing the best Europe could throw at it.
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i bet number 1 muz be the final game agst munich in 1999
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show hand! i bet every single penny!Originally posted by F.raon.I.R:i bet number 1 muz be the final game agst munich in 1999 -
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Glory nights in Europe 10-6
10.
Barcelona 3 United 3
Champions League Group D, Nou Camp, 25 November 1998
If September’s Old Trafford face-off – also 3-3 – wasn’t dramatic enough – this was even better. Trailing to Sonny Anderson’s first-minute goal, United shook off the spectre of 1994’s Nou Camp nightmare to show stirring resolve. Dwight Yorke equalised, Andy Cole – albeit briefly, made it 2-1 after another terrific bit of telepathy with Yorke – Yorke nodded in Beckham’s cross for 3-2, before Rivaldo’s overhead kick ensured a frantic finale in which the Brazilian also rocked the bar. Barca’s failure to win saw them go out, and the Reds went marching on, on, on.
9.
United 5 Brondby 0
Champions League, Group D, Old Trafford 4 November 1998
Having taken a shine to Brondby two weeks earlier, United piled on the agony, scoring three in the first 16 minutes. A soft free-kick from Beckham set the tone, Cole’s marvellous chip after a breathtaking exchange with Yorke made it two and Phil Neville and Yorke took it to four by the break. It was hard to believe Brondby had beaten Bayern, but playing United on a night like this was the footballing equivalent of attempting to steal a bone from a peckish Rottweiller. As the boss said: “Probably the best first-half performance I’ve seen.”
8.
United 4 Porto 0
Champions League quarter-final, first leg, Old Trafford, 5 March 1997
Porto were swept away on an attacking tide that drew comparisons with the Babes at their best and took us to a first European Cup. David May, of all people, got the ball rolling on 20 minutes, with Cantona, mesmeric and majestic, doubling the lead. The best came after the break, Cantona’s 50-yard pass to Cole, who set up Giggs for the third. Cole added a fourth, just to be sure, with 10 minutes to go. “Breathtaking”, said the Mirror. “Bloody marvellous” said The Sun.
7.
Real Madrid 3 United 3
European Cup semi-final, second leg, Bernabeu, 15 May 1968
“I still don’t know what possessed me to go forward,” recalled United’s goalscoring hero Bill Foulkes, who’d hardly played since the New Year. Still, desperate times call for desperate measures and, heading out of the competition with 10 minutes left, Foulkes found himself in foreign territory, meeting Best’s drag-back to put the Reds ahead on aggregate. Ten years after Munich’s long shadow, United were through for a tilt at the grail, or as Foulkes poetically put it: “The beginning of the end of the rainbow.”
6.
United 3 Barcelona 0
European Cup Winners’ Cup, quarter-final, second leg, 21 March 1984“I have never heard a noise like it,” said Bryan Robson. “It just seemed to get louder as the game went on.” With the sheerest of peaks to climb after a 2-0 defeat at the Nou Camp against Diego Maradona and co, United scaled it, with Captain Marvel at his inspired best, planting a flag at the summit. In front of OT’s biggest crowd – pre-all seater days, kids – in two decades, Robson opened the scoring, bundling in from close range following Norman Whiteside’s flick on. Robson levelled the tie, toe-poking home on 50 minutes. Just two minutes later, the Stretford End was a frenzied blur of writhing limbs as Frank Stapleton smashed in Whiteside’s knockdown.
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Glory nights in Europe 5-1
5.
Benfica 1 United 5
European Cup quarter-final, second leg, Estadio de Luz, 9 March 1966
The night George Best announced his genius on the European stage as ‘El Beatle’ ended Benfica’s unbeaten run on their own patch. Against a team that had reached four of the previous five European Cup finals, Best, ignored Matt Busby’s pre-match mantra about keeping it tight for the opening few minutes in defence of a 3-2 first-leg lead. Dancing to the beat of his own drum, he went out and tore the Portuguese to shreds like a one-man school of piranhas at feeding time. Within 14 minutes United were 3-0 up, two goals and an an assist from Best. Charlton’s blinding fifth, beating three men, was almost a footnote.
4.
United 2 Barcelona 1
European Cup WinnersÂ’ Cup final, Feyenoord Stadium, 15 May 1991
Revenge is a dish best served cold, and while Sparky is not one to dwell, the two-goal hero illuminated the Reds’ second triumph in European competition. Hughes – finally transferred to Barça after a bout of intense soul-searching in 1986 – found life tough with the Catalans, but he made them pay five years later. His second goal, from a seemingly impossible angle, is one of the picture-book moments. “I wanted to show the football fans of Barcelona the real Mark Hughes, not the one booted out of town as a flop,” he said.
3.
Juventus 2 Manchester United 3
Champions League semi-final, second leg, Stadio Delle Alpi, 21 April 1999
Is there a sweeter feeling than the thoroughly unexpected victory – that despair-to-joy moment when you realise you’re clutching a complete stranger like a long-lost brother? Travelling in hope rather than expectation after Teddy Sheringham’s substitute cameo inspired a shaky draw in the first leg, United’s chances of progression looked bleaker than a slate-grey Salford sky after shipping two in the first 11 minutes. Luckily, no-one had told Keano. This was Roy’s command performance. Having reduced the aggregate deficit to 3-2 with a rare header, Keane’s booking for a challenge on Zidane made him ineligible for the final, should United do the unthinkable. That season, of course, not doing the unthinkable was well, unthinkable. Keane blazed away in central midfield like a man possessed – determined that if he couldn’t play in the final, this would be his legacy. Dwight Yorke’s lunge to meet Andy Cole’s centre meant United were in the box seat on away goals. Yet it wasn’t over. The Reds surged forward, striking the woodwork twice before Cole pounced to spark scenes of mass jubilation only matched by the same sweaty hordes 35 days later in Barcelona. It’s worth having grandchildren to tell them you were there.
2.
Bayern Munich 1 United 2
Champions League final, Nou Camp, Barcelona, 26 May 1999
In these days where anything goes on telly, it’s remarkable some bright spark hasn’t come up with ‘Day of the Dead – Soccer’s Lazarus-like Comebacks!’ When, rather than if they do, all bets are off for the No.1 spot. After the Herculean exertions of April and May to secure the Double and reach the final after a remarkable turnaround in Turin, United’s Treble chance looked to have faded. Trailing to Mario Basler’s freakish sixth-minute free-kick, shorn of the services of Roy Keane and Paul Scholes through suspension, United lacked a cutting edge. Still, two out of three: hardly a bad return, and the prospect of a drink on La Rambla to drown the sorrows. But wait, one last chance as the clock ticked over into the 90th minute… Beckham’s corner, Schmeichel lumbering forward, Yorke’s flick, Giggs, Sheringham in super-sub slo-mo cameo… 1-1 and game very much on. Having been read the last rites, we rise, the ghosts of Busby’s Babes on our shoulders, fittingly on what would have been the great man’s 90th birthday. We press once more. Another corner… Beckham, Sheringham, Solskjaer… at 92 minutes and 17 seconds, it’s 2-1, utter pandemonium, and the hastiest switching of victor’s ribands in football history.
1.
United 4 Benfica 1
European Cup final, Wembley, 29 May 1968
There is greatness, and there’s Wembley 1968. Like the Nou Camp 31 years later, the high drama was saved for the closing stages – but then isn’t that the point of the final reel? This night wasn’t about quality, at least not first and foremost. It was about fulfilling a date with a destiny lost in the Munich snow 10 long years earlier. United’s triumph on a balmy north London night assumes mythical status on two levels. Busby was miraculously back at the summit so nearly scaled in 1958, before the dream of glory and a golden generation of talent was cruelly crushed. His young tiros George Best and Brian Kidd, backed by the experience and iron-will of Munich survivors Bill Foulkes, knee ligament damage and all, and Bobby Charlton knew failure was not an option. And then of course, there was the groundbreaking achievement of becoming the first English club to master Europe’s premier competition – fittingly enough, having been the club who defied the FA’s pooh-poohing of the venture to enter it in the first place. Alex Stepney’s part, saving point-blank from the great Eusebio with 10 minutes remaining, should never be understated, but the enduring image is of the clinch between old soldiers Charlton, Foulkes and Busby – and the exuberance of birthday-boy Brian Kidd, just 19, his goal coming between Best’s lead-restorer and Charlton’s closing goal, his second. As Nobby Stiles observed: “For me and Kiddo and John Aston, the team’s Mancunians, it was also a triumph of the blood of our lives, we had felt the sorrow of the city’s streets in 1958.” To paraphrase that son of Salford, Morrissey, this night opened our eyes: one on which the fallen flowers of Manchester bloomed anew, a glorious, fitting tribute to the present and the past.
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you are wrongOriginally posted by F.raon.I.R:i bet number 1 muz be the final game agst munich in 1999 -
gosh...lol.
btw,where u took that from?haha
lets hope maybe we win it this year..more spectacular then ever -
from the man utd websiteOriginally posted by F.raon.I.R:gosh...lol.
btw,where u took that from?haha
lets hope maybe we win it this year..more spectacular then ever
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I hope we never win anything under Fergie again - if only that helps to expedite his exit and allow United to rebuild from the debacle they currently find themselves in...Originally posted by F.raon.I.R:gosh...lol.
btw,where u took that from?haha
lets hope maybe we win it this year..more spectacular then ever -
I feel that 1999 Champions League Final was an all time helluva piece of soccer history. I have never felt so much emotional rush even after reading/watching/hearing about it over and over again. Completing a treble in the very last minute of such an important game. I would love to be in the position of Solksjaer at that point of time. What joy! I'm sure the feeling is too intense to be describe. Simply brilliant! One of the reasons why I'm still heavily in love with Man U...
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Don't forget who got us there, but wasn't there at the Nou Camp during our finest hour...Originally posted by dinky1409:I feel that 1999 Champions League Final was an all time helluva piece of soccer history. I have never felt so much emotional rush even after reading/watching/hearing about it over and over again. Completing a treble in the very last minute of such an important game. I would love to be in the position of Solksjaer at that point of time. What joy! I'm sure the feeling is too intense to be describe. Simply brilliant! One of the reasons why I'm still heavily in love with Man U... 
Keane's majestic display against Juve in Turin must have been the highlight of our European adventure that season.