In 1968, the emotion of European success was almost too much to
bear; while the Treble’s crowning moment gave Sir Bobby Charlton
plenty reason to celebrate…
The Champions League final at the Nou Camp must have been
poignant for you; how did it contrast with 1968?
They were two very different feelings for me. It was so emotional
in ’68 because of everything that had gone before it with the
accident. In Barcelona, it was pure joy, and on what would have
been Matt’s birthday.
What would Sir Matt have made of that game?
I’m sure he was there in spirit and he’d have been a very happy
man. He was always impressed by Alex Ferguson. In board meetings,
when Alex said something, Matt used to give that nod of approval.
He would have been so pleased because, when you look out at Old
Trafford, he started all this and Alex has continued it; 1999 was
an incredible season. I’ll never forget the way it finished,
ever.
There were so many dramatic victories that season, but few could
surpass the final…
Bayern Munich scored early so we still had a chance. But it kept
getting later and later. I thought, if we get the ball into the box
we have players that can score, but Bayern repelled everything.
With a few minutes left, Lennart Johansson, the UEFA president, came past. He was on his way to present
the trophy. He said to me, “I’m very sorry, Bobby’. I said, ‘c’est
la vie, president, there’ll be other matches.’ By the time he’d
gone into the stands and down to the pitch, he emerged to find the
winners distraught and the losers celebrating… in the time it took
him to get the elevator down to the pitch, he’d missed our
goals!
How did you react when those goals went in?
When Teddy Sheringham scored, my first instinct was to look at the
linesman to see if he was onside. Then I got caught up in the
celebrations and ended up jumping over a few UEFA people in the seats in front. I apologised and they
said, ‘we understand, Bobby’. I was just pulling myself together,
thinking we had 30 minutes of extra time to win it, then we got a
corner. Teddy flicked it on, and if you’d let me pick one player to
be on the end of that ball, it’d be one of the great finishers of
all time, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. And there he was. I was in
disbelief. I couldn’t believe we’d won.
Late finishes were a common theme that season, and seems
in-built into the club; where does that spirit come from?
It’s the United way; you go for 90 minutes because, well, you just
never know… It’s not just our belief, other teams know that we’ll
never stop. So they drop back and defend for their lives, and
that’s our invitation. It’s partly the English game, which is never
dull. But it’s also the club’s working class roots; fans do their
work in the week, then they want entertaining! That’s what we’ve
always done, entertained and never given up. It’s our tradition and
what makes this club unique, never more evident than that
night.
“You go for 90 minutes because, well, you just never know. We
always entertain and never give up – that was never more evident
than in Barcelona.”
- Sir Bobby Charlton