May 29, 1968. Half a century later, it is still remembered as the proudest day in the history of Manchester United.
On a balmy night at Wembley in front of nearly 100,000 fans, United’s 4-1 win over Benfica after extra-time saw Matt Busby’s team become the first English club to lift the European Cup.
It brought justification for Busby’s battle with the football authorities to enter a team in European competition a decade earlier, and a fitting reward for the work put into rebuilding the club in the devastating aftermath of the Munich Air Disaster of 1958.
Manchester United’s Bobby Charlton lifts the European Cup after they beat Benfica 4-1
United manager Matt Busby with Bobby Charlton, Bill Foulkes, Pat Crerand and John Aston
United’s Nobby Stiles (L) hugs Bobby Charlton as they celebrate victory after full-time
The players could sense the spirit of Munich driving Busby towards glory, even through the early rounds of the competition against Hibernians, of Malta, Sarajevo and Polish club Gornik Zabrze.
‘We were a team, but the great man – Matt Busby – had made us a family,’ says goalkeeper Alex Stepney. ‘For us to accomplish that for him, and for all the other people caught up in the Munich tragedy, was so, so important.
‘When we started out in the autumn of 1967, nothing was said about doing it for the lads who had died, but we all knew, without words, that there was this extra dimension because the manager and two of his most trusted players – Bobby Charlton and Bill Foulkes – had survived the crash.
‘There was also the notion that, given Matt’s age and all he had been through, possibly it might be this side’s last chance. To see the scars on his chest brought home to us the enormous trauma he had experienced at Munich.’
Eusebio walks out to look at the pitch in the warm evening sunshine before the match
Manchester United and Benfica walk onto the pitch at Wembley for the European Cup final
Nearly 100,000 fans gathered at Wembley while another 250million viewers watched at home
Paddy Crerand recalls it being on the players’ minds when Busby and his assistant Jimmy Murphy gave an inspirational half-time team talk in the Bernabeu with United losing the semi-final to Real Madrid 3-1 on the night and 3-2 on aggregate. They rallied to win 4-3 and clinch a place at Wembley with Foulkes, a 36-year-old defender, scoring the dramatic winner.
The final took place against a backdrop of disappointment after Busby’s team lost two of their final three league games to concede the First Division title to Manchester City.
But United gathered at their Surrey hotel base confident of beating two-time European champions Benfica to claim the famous trophy that had been lifted by Jock Stein’s Celtic 12 months earlier.
United captain Charlton exchanges pennants with Benfica captain, Coluna, before the kick off
Busby talking to United players Bill Foulkes (5) and Charlton (9) before the start of extra time
Brian Kidd was among those to score three times in the first nine minutes of extra-time
A match watched by 250million viewers worldwide – the biggest TV audience since the World Cup final at Wembley two years earlier – witnessed a goalless first half with no hint of the drama that was to follow.
Charlton headed United in front from David Sadler’s cross eight minutes into the second half, but Jaime Graca equalised for the Portuguese club 11 minutes from the end.
The defining moment of the game came late on when the great Eusebio was sent clean through on goal and tried to blast the ball past Stepney.
‘His ferocious shot cannoned into my chest – I tell everybody that the Mitre logo is still imprinted on my skin – and I managed to hold on to it,’ says the United keeper.
Busby and Murphy were again called upon to raise their players for one last push for glory, and United responded by scoring three times in the first nine minutes of extra-time to break Benfica’s hearts.
Charlton (L) and a team-mate completing a lap of honour after the full-time whistle had gone
Busby celebrates after his team had become the first English side to lift the European Cup
Busby holds aloft the European Cup to cheering crowds outside the Town Hall in Manchester
The European Cup is put into a safe at the London vaults of Security Express
George Best rounded goalkeeper Jose Henrique to restore United’s lead, Brian Kidd scored on his 19th birthday to make it 3-1 and, fittingly, Charlton put the seal on United’s triumph when he claimed his second of the night.
The usually reserved Charlton could not contain his emotions and sought out Busby at the final whistle to hug his manager.
‘I recall what it meant to embrace teammates who had been involved for so long,’ he said. ‘Especially Bill Foulkes because, like me, he had been on the snowy airfield and seen our team, our friends, destroyed.’
For Charlton and United, it was the end of a hugely poignant chapter in the club’s history; one that had started in tragedy at Munich and ended in triumph at Wembley a decade later.
Fifty years later, the legend lives on.