Barcelona '99

Where else to start when recounting memories, good and bad, of supporting Manchester United over the years but with arguably the greatest sporting comeback in history.

May 26th 1999, The Nou Camp stadium, Barcelona.  United were in the Champions League Final and I was there.  It was a remarkable end to a remarkable season, and it was the most remarkable ending to a football match that anyone in that stadium that evening will probably ever witness.

As the season was drawing to a close, and The Treble was in our sights, I was in the process of relocating from Belgium to the US.  After United's remarkable win against Juventus in the semi-final (I may have to blog about that sometime too) I had vouched to go to the final.  Fortunately for me, work connections had come up with the promise of tickets for me and two friends. 

We didn't actually have the tickets mind you, just a promise that they would be available for collection in the lobby of a hotel in Barcelona around lunchtime on the Wednesday.

In addition to not actually having tickets in our possession, we had no accommodation either, but we set off excitedly for Barcelona around 6pm and drove through the night, arriving on the outskirts of the Catalan capital around 8am Wednesday morning.

After a couple of hours rest in a service area, we set off for the city center. Things started going our way when we bumped into an Englishman who told us of a hostel that had a vacant room which we immediately rented.  Each of us showered and changed then we headed off in search of the hotel and our tickets.  My contact was true to her word, and we had our match tickets.  We spent the afternoon sightseeing and then headed for the stadium.

What a stadium and what a view we had.  Our seats were directly over the half-way line in the middle tier.  The United fans were to our right and the Munich fans to our left.  The game, as many of you may recall was pretty scrappy.  Munich led from very early on, and in truth were unlucky not to be two or three ahead by the time the fourth official came out with the board that read 3 minutes of stoppage time.   I remember setting my stopwatch at that moment...

The next few minutes were incredible.  Bayern had made several late substitutions taking off key players, and I had a feeling if we could sneak a goal in stoppage time, we might be able to win the game in extra time.  What a roar from the United section when Teddy Sheringham scuffed in a weak Ryan Giggs effort and we were level.

I don't remember exactly how far into stoppage time we were, I don't even remember looking at my watch, but all of a sudden we had another corner, and after Sheringham's flicked header, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer stuck out his foot and steered the ball into the roof of the net!  Incredible scenes of joy and jubilation from the United players, utter despair from the Munich players.

The final whistle came, and while we and the United players were dancing and hugging each other, the Munich players were laying on the turf in utter disbelief.

We continued to celebrate for what seemed like hours as the trophy was presented, the team celebrated in front of the United end, then did a lap of honor.

After leaving the stadium, the three of us took the metro back towards our hostel stopping at one Barcelona's famous street-side bars.  I glanced at my watch, the stopwatch was still running, it read something like 2hrs, 45 mins..... I laughed to myself and raised a glass to an incredible experience.

Not only I had witnessed the most unbelievable finish to a football game, more importantly, I seen United lift the Champions League Trophy.
  

In Giggsy We Trust!

...proclaimed a sign held up by a young fan at Old Trafford, Saturday with sentiments undoubtedly echo'd around the world.

These sentiments were certainly echo'd in this corner of the world, by this particular fellow United fan.


It has been a turbulent and extremely disappointing season for the millions of followers of Manchester United, and no matter what the outcome of the newest managerial search, it was a great relief to see the second half performance yesterday.  As promised, Ryan had returned to the United way of playing football.  A style which had seemed destined to be forgotten for as long as the board continued to believe that David Moyes was indeed "The Chosen One".

No matter how poorly the club managed the situation, the fact that they did manage the situation, albeit in all likelihood too late to save even an appearance in next season's Europa League, came as a great relief to many.

At work on Monday (PDT - west coast US - time for me) I was as giddy as a schoolboy, as one of my co-workers - a Liverpool fan - commented on my excitement.  I had read the rumors and was convinced that the announcement was imminent.  Even though it took until Tuesday morning for the official news, I knew that we were about to be relieved of the anguish of watching awful performance after awful performance, interrupted by the occasional slight improvement that offered glimpses of light at the end of the tunnel.

For me, the 0:3 home defeat at the hands of Liverpool had been the final straw, and forced my to come out on Facebook against Mr Moyes.  I had tried to be loyal to Sir Alex, and support the new manager, but that performance left me in little doubt that this job was beyond him.  All of the unwanted records of the season, losing at home to West Brom, Everton and Newcastle were each bad in their own right, but the performance (or lack thereof) against Liverpool spoke volumes.  Similar displays against City and then Everton confirmed this, and finally the board had to take action, and they did.

So, a wasted season, but hopefully these last four games will be a positive experience, and whoever the board select as the next new manager can continue that momentum into the 14/15 season....it probably won't be Ryan this time around, but at some point in the not too distant future it will be, then once again we can all proclaim...."In Giggsy We Trust".