Champions League

The Champions League is the ultimate club competition in European football and Man Utd have won the trophy three times: 1968, 1999 & 2008. Manchester United first played in the European Cup in 1956, which saw the Red Devils winning their first game 10-0 against Belgian champions Anderlecht. Sir Matt Busby’s men reached the semi-finals in both 1956/57 and 1957/58 seasons, but the latter will be forever linked to the Munich Air Disaster. Sir Matt Busby then set out to build a new team with hope of lifting the European Cup, an amazing feat he achieved 10-years after the disaster, in 1968. Goals from Bobby Charlton (two), George Best and Brian Kidd at Wembley gave England its first European Cup winning side against a brilliant Benfica side. The next triumph in the European Cup — which later became known as the Champions League — occurred in 1999, as Sir Alex Ferguson’s side completed the famous treble.  It looked all but lost as United trailed 1-0 going into the three minutes of added time in Barcelona’s Nou Camp. But goals from Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer left Bayern Munich devastated. Fergie had finally emulated the achievement of Busby. In May 2008, Ferguson would see another side win the Champions League, and it was arguably his strongest-ever team. On the 50th anniversary of the Munich Air Disaster and 40 years since the club’s first win in ’68, we claimed victory in a penalty shootout against Chelsea.