ImagesGetty Imagesbegin to tell the story of the match. Only a few minutes into the
game, a strong challenge from Villa’s Peter McParland on goalkeeper
Ray Wood led to the latter being carried off; in the days before
substitutes were allowed this meant United played almost the whole
match with ten men – and with Jackie Blanchflower in goal! The
following year, having gutsily survived post-Munich ties against West
Bromwich Albion and Fulham – both via replays – United succumbed
2-0 to Bolton Wanderers in the final. Both goals were scored by Nat
Lofthouse for a Bolton side that boasted five internationals; United
fielded just two players who had appeared in the previous year’s final.
Of course the bigger story was Busby’s insistence that they enter
the European Cup. It seems difficult to imagine now, but the Football
League were very much against the competition and even tried to
prevent United from taking part.
“Football has become a world game and this is where the future of
the game lies,” declared Busby. “You cannot make progress standing
still.” And so it was that United became the first English club to take
part, and they quickly had an impact.
Wins over Anderlecht, Borussia Dortmund and Athletic Bilbao in
their first season brought a semi-final against giants Real Madrid. A
3-1 defeat at the Bernabéu in front of a reported 120,000 crowd
made United’s task hard; two first-half goals from the Spanish side at
Old Trafford put the tie beyond any real doubt. But the home team
showed glimpses of what they had to offer, and goals from Taylor and
Charlton at least gained them parity on the night. The Spanish side
used the counterattack cleverly and weren’t above some serious
gamesmanship in milking every foul, committing plenty themselves
and repeatedly kicking the ball away whenever the home team were
awarded a free kick.
But United learned valuable lessons about European campaigns,
which looked like they might bear fruit the following year. With
Madrid going on to lift the trophy via a comfortable 2-0 win over
Fiorentina, it was clear that United were not that far off the pace.
“When I led Manchester United into Europe,” said Busby, “some
people called me a visionary, others a reactionary, while a few
thought me just plain awkward and stubborn. Certainly I was eager to
be part of this new European challenge.”
The following season they again reached the semi-finals with wins
over Shamrock Rovers, Dukla Prague and Red Star Belgrade.
Astonishingly, they even beat AC Milan 2-1 in the first leg of the semi,
just three months after Munich, but they ran out of steam in the
return leg, losing 4-0. The terrible events in Munich meant that United
would have to wait another decade before finally bringing home the
trophy that Busby was so insistent they play for.Below Billy
Whelan, Dennis
Viollet and Ray
Wood engage in
an impromptu
training sessionARSENAL OUTGUNNED
In their last league match before their fateful trip, we saw all
that was brightest and best of United in a nine-goal thriller
Defending their title, United had not started the 1957-
season in quite the same dominating form as they had shown
in the previous two seasons. In an attempt to fire up his side,
Matt Busby had introduced Bobby Charlton, Kenny Morgans
and the mercurial Eddie Colman, and they had started to buzz
again. On 1 February 1958, they travelled to Highbury for what
became an extraordinary match. United went 3-0 up thanks
to Edwards (above, arms outstretched), Charlton and Taylor
but relaxed too soon and Arsenal hit back with three of their
own through David Herd and a Jimmy Bloomfield double. As
an end-to-end battle developed, United again went ahead
through Viollet and another from Taylor. But still the Gunners
weren’t finished and Derek Tapscott made it 4-5. That was the
end of the scoring, but not the end of the excitement as
further chances came and went for both sides. The 63,
crowd must have been disappointed at the result but can’t
help having been thrilled by the action. The match was given
added poignancy as it was United’s last league game before
their ill-fated trip to Belgrade; on their return they
unsurprisingly lost eight of their remaining 13 fixtures, and
with it the chance of a hat-trick of league titles.THE BUSBY
BABES