1999 UEFA Champions League Final

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The 1999 UEFA Champions League Final took place at the Nou Camp in Barcelona on 26 May 1999. Manchester United wore their traditional red shirts, while Bayern Munich donned their grey Champions League kit. It is well remembered for Manchester United dramatically winning it in injury time having trailed for most of the game.

1 Match summary
2 Trivia
3 Match details
4 See also
5 References

[edit] Match summary

Six minutes into the match, Bayern took the lead with a free kick from Mario Basler. As the game continued, Bayern had shots saved by Peter Schmeichel and also hit the post from a Mehmet Scholl chip from open play, after a mesmerising run from Basler. In addition, an overhead kick from Carsten Jancker crashed off the crossbar late in the game. Manchester United also had chances, but rarely tested the Bayern keeper, Oliver Kahn. In fact, the majority of the match was rather stale, though interestingly enough, after failing to create any truly direct chances throughout the match, the team in red created a number of them in the last 5 minutes of the match with the two substitutes Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjær both missing easy chances and could only force easy saves from Kahn (Solskjær from a free header and Sheringham with a weak shot from just near the penalty spot).

As the game moved into injury time, the fourth official indicated that three minutes would be played.

Samuel Kuffour: Bayern were devastated after the defeat.

Seconds into injury time, Manchester United earned a corner following a defensive error. Peter Schmeichel ventured up to Bayern's penalty area. David Beckham flighted the corner in, and it went just over Schmeichel's head. Dwight Yorke put the ball back into the mixer, but Thorsten Fink failed to clear sufficiently, and the ball arrived at the feet of Ryan Giggs on the edge of the area. His right-footed snap-shot was weak and poorly struck, but it went straight to Sheringham, who swiped at the shot with his right foot. His contact was also poor, but the ball nestled in the bottom corner of the net. It looked as if, having been behind for most of the match, United had forced extra time.

Less than 30 seconds after the subsequent kick-off, United forced another corner. Schmeichel stayed in his penalty area this time. Beckham again swung the corner in, which was headed downwards by Sheringham. Solskjær shot out a foot and poked the ball into the roof of the Bayern goal for United to take the lead. Just before United took the corner, ITV co-commentator, Ron Atkinson said: They must be playing defensive, Schmeichel's not coming up for this one. Thinks he's done enough. (referring to Schmeichel's logical decision to stay in his penalty area this time). Clive Tyldesley also said, just after Atkinson, You have to feel this is their year. Is this their moment?. Also, Tyldesley's commentary on Solskjær's goal is famous among Manchester United fans for its direct nature: Beckham... into Sheringham... and Solskjær has won it! Solskjær celebrated by sliding on his knees, mimicking Basler's earlier celebration, before quickly being mobbed by the United players, substitutes and coaching staff. Schmeichel, in his own penalty area, somersaulted with glee. Tyldesley again followed this with the exclamation, Manchester United have reached the Promised Land.

The game restarted, but Bayern were virtually unable to continue and needed the assistance of referee Pierluigi Collina to drag themselves off the ground where many of them had collapsed, stunned - as they were - to have lost a game they had thought won just minutes before (several celebratory flares had already been ignited by the Munich fans moments before United equalised). United held onto their lead to record their second Champions League/European Cup title. Samuel Kuffour memorably broke out in tears after the game. The television cameras also showed the look on Lothar Matthäus's face after United's second goal went in. He had been substituted with just 4 minutes remaining, and the Champions' League/European Cup was the only major trophy he had failed to win during his career. The look on his face was one of sheer disbelief. This led Clive Tyldesley to say: What must Lothar Matthäus be thinking?, before adding, with a considerable amount of bias: Well, with the greatest respect, who cares?

When the two teams went to collect their medals, television viewers around the world watched as Matthäus removed his runners-up medal, almost before he received it. He never won the competition, having moved to play in the USA for MetroStars in the MLS before Bayern next won the European Cup in 2001.

When the trophy was presented to Manchester United, the captain on the night, Peter Schmeichel, and manager Alex Ferguson raised the trophy together.

[edit] Trivia

Manchester United were without their midfield duo Paul Scholes and club captain Roy Keane. Both received yellow cards in the semi-final match against Juventus.
The match was the last game Peter Schmeichel ever played for United — he moved to Sporting Lisbon. His decision to leave United had been announced the previous November; due to injury he claimed not be to able to continue playing at the highest level.
Jonathan Greening won a champions league medal and gave it to the suspended Roy Keane, Keane disappointed at missing out on the trophy himself gave the medal back to the lucky Greening.
Manchester United became the first team to win the European Cup or Champions League having failed to be either the Champions of Europe, Champions of their country, or the winners of the Cup the preceding season. They had finished second in the 1997-98 season to Arsenal, but had qualified through UEFA's expanded format, which had been introduced a few seasons earlier. Had Bayern won the cup, they would have become the first team to achieve this feat, having also finished second in the Bundesliga to Kaiserslautern the season before.
By winning, Manchester United completed a unique (to date) treble in English Football, winning the Premiership, FA Cup and Champions League in the same season.
The day of the Final would have been the 90th birthday of former United manager Sir Matt Busby, the only other Manchester United manager to lead the team to a European Cup title (in 1968). He had died in January 1994.
After trailing 1-0 for most of the game, Manchester United became the first team in the new-format UEFA Champions League to comeback from a goal deficit to win the final.
The two last minute goals were timed at 90:36 and 92:17.
In a pitch-side interview immediately after the match, Alex Ferguson produced his now legendary summation of the game: Football, bloody hell!
Clive Tyldesley exclaimed:

"History is made, Manchester United are the Champions of Europe again and nobody will ever win a European Cup final more dramatically than this."^[1]

Somewhat ironically, six years later, another English club - Liverpool FC - won the European Cup with a similarly dramatic comeback.

As the game entered the 90th minute the trophy was brought down for presentation with decorations attached to it in the colours of Bayern Munich. The trophy had to be quickly taken back and have the colours changed to that of Manchester United straight after United's 2nd goal.

[edit] Match details

May 26, 1999
	Manchester United	2–1	Bayern Munich	Camp Nou, Barcelona
	Sheringham 90'+1' Solskjær 90'+3'		Basler 6'	Camp Nou, Barcelona


MANCHESTER UNITED:
GK	1	Schmeichel
RB	2	G. Neville
CB	6	Stam
CB	5	Johnsen
LB	3	Irwin
LM	11	Giggs
CM	8	Butt
RM	7	Beckham
CM	15	Blomqvist	67'
CF	9	Cole	81'
CF	19	Yorke
Substitutes:
GK	17	van der Gouw
DF	4	May
DF	12	P. Neville
DF	24	Brown
MF	34	Greening
CF	10	Sheringham 90+1'	67'
CF	20	Solskjær 90+3'	81'
Manager:
Sir Alex Ferguson


FC BAYERN MÜNCHEN:
GK	1	Kahn
SW	10	Matthäus	81'
RB	2	Babbel
CB	4	Kuffour
CB	25	Linke
LB	18	Tarnat
CM	16	Jeremies
CM	11	Effenberg
RF	14	Basler 6'	89'
CF	19	Jancker
LF	21	Zickler	71'
Substitutes:
GK	22	Dreher
DF	5	Helmer
MF	7	Scholl	71'
MF	8	Strunz
MF	17	Fink	81'
MF	20	Salihamidžić	89'
FW	24	Daei
Manager:
Ottmar Hitzfeld