The greatest comeback in football history

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Manchester United crowned as The King of Europe last Wednesday.

They beat their local rival Chelsea on a dramatic penalty shoot-out.

It was a dramatic final but the final in 1999 is the most astonishing Champions League Final ever.

Two subs, Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjær, each scored in the last 120 seconds of play to provide the miraculous finish over German club Bayern Munich.

Referee Pierluigi Collina has mentioned it as one of the most remarkable matches of his career and the climax of the game was voted as the 4th greatest sporting moment ever by Channel 4 viewers in a poll on 2002.


Bayern had mostly controlled the match since taking the lead in the sixth minute via Mario Basler. They also twice hit the post late in the game.

United had to compensate for the absence of their captain Roy Keane and midfield creator Paul Scholes due to suspension.

Maybe the goals did not come earlier because Sir Alex Ferguson seemed to have his tactics wrong in the first 70 minutes.

Fergie made two substitutions, getting Sheringham and Solskjær on the field, and both worked to perfection.

Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer, the star of the team that won three straight titles between 1974 and 1976, said this was a "horrible defeat."

More than 30,000 United fans among the crowd at Camp Nou sang in joy long after the final whistle.

The title came on the day of the 90th birthday of the late Sir Matt Busby, who died in 1994, the only United manager to win a European Cup title (in 1968) before Sir Alex.

The victory was the culmination of their famous Treble-winning, as they had already won the Premier League and the FA Cup.

The Red Devils are only the third club to achieve the Treble after Celtic in 1967 and Ajax in 1972.

United also remained unbeaten in all 13 European matches and its 31 European goals put it in second place on the all-time scoring list in a season, behind AC Milan which scored 33 goals in 1962-63.


Lineups

Manchester United: Peter Schmeichel; Gary Neville, Jaap Stam, Ronny Johnsen, Denis Irwin, David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Jesper Blomqvist (Teddy Sheringham, 67), Ryan Giggs, Andy Cole (Ole Gunnar Solskjær, 81), Dwight Yorke

Bayern Munich: Oliver Kahn; Lothar Matthäus (Thorsten Fink, 80), Samuel Kuffour, Thomas Linke, Markus Babbel, Jens Jeremies, Michael Tarnat, Stefan Effenberg, Mario Basler (Hasan Salihamidzic, 90), Carsten Jancker, Alexander Zickler (Mehmet Scholl, 71)

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3 comments

Comment Author Avatar
May 25, 2008 5:38 PM Delete
Thanks for your invitation to exchange links with soccerphile blog...if you can add a link please to soccerphile.blogspot.com we'll link back
Comment Author Avatar
May 26, 2008 10:36 AM Delete
Collino is the head referee here in Italy now...really a good tract record...

I like your site really with all the relevant football news here..

ABC Bloglearner
Comment Author Avatar
May 26, 2008 10:02 PM Delete
Linked, thanks