Munich air disaster 54 years on - how triumph in Europe helped Matt Busby lay ghosts of the fallen to rest
On the 54th anniversary of the tragedy which devastated Manchester United, we look at how the club rose from the ashes to claim its greatest triumph just 10 years later
Feb 6, 2012 10:21:21 AM
By Graham Lister
Manchester United's triumphant 1967-68 European Cup campaign resonates within the history of football on these shores not only because it marked the first time an English team had won the continent's premier club competition, but also because it signified the repayment, at least in part, of a 10-year debt United and their manager Matt Busby felt they owed to the memory of an earlier generation of players.
For Manchester United after the Munich Disaster of February 1958, winning the European Cup had become an emotional imperative. When eight of Busby's 'Babes' lost their lives on that snowy Bavarian runway they were returning home from a successful quarter-final in what was still an embryonic competition. In 1956 Busby had defied a reactionary and parochial Football League to take United into Europe, believing that his young players would benefit from the experience.
“United‘s participation was not in the best interests of the League,” insisted that venerable body. But the Scot was not a man to be brow-beaten. "Prestige alone demanded that the continental challenge should be met, not avoided," he argued, and United duly pioneered English clubs' involvement on the European stage. Then tragedy struck.
After the crash Busby himself hovered close to death for weeks. But there was profound emotional as well as physical trauma: Munich left him grief-stricken and questioning whether he'd been right to pursue his European vision.
"Munich left Busby grief-stricken and questioning whether he had been right to pursue his European vision" |
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He nevertheless decided that the most fitting tribute in football terms to those who had perished would be to build another team that could bring the European Cup to Old Trafford. Munich survivors Bill Foulkes and Bobby Charlton would help him fulfil that dream.
Busby's first opportunity came in 1965-66 after United had won the previous season's First Division title, but Partizan Belgrade beat them 2-1 on aggregate in the semi-final.
English champions again in 1966-67, they embarked on their next European adventure in September 1967 with a comfortable 4-0 home win over Hibernians of Malta, David Sadler and Denis Law netting a brace apiece. A goalless draw in the away leg saw United through to face Sarajevo in the second round, where they would now be Britain's sole representatives following holders Celtic's 3-2 aggregate defeat by Dinamo Kiev.The Red Devils' trip to Bosnia to face the champions of the then Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia yielded another goalless draw, and in the second leg John Aston and George Best were on target in a 2-0 United victory.
That set up a quarter-final against Polish champions Gornik Zabrze. At Old Trafford Stefan Florenski put through his own goal on the hour mark before 18-year-old Brian Kidd, in his debut season in United’s first team, added a priceless second in the last minute. The second leg was played in an intimidating atmosphere at the Stadion Slaski in Silesia in front of 105,000 fans. Prolific striker Wlodek Lubanski scored the only goal in the 70th minute, but it proved too little too late for the Poles and United were through to the semi-final.
Their opponents would be Real Madrid, who back in 1957 had ended United's first European Cup campaign at the semi-final stage.
Eleven years later in the first leg at Old Trafford, a goal by Best after 36 minutes gave Busby's side a slender lead to take to Spain. But by half-time at the Bernabeu, United found themselves 3-1 down and being emphatically outplayed by the six-times winners of the tournament.
Jose Martinez Sanchez - aka Pirri - opened the scoring after 32 minutes to put Madrid level overall. Nine minutes later Francisco Gento doubled Real's lead on the night, and although Ignacio Zoco's own goal gave United hope a minute before the break, there was still time in the first half for Amancio Amaro to restore the Spaniards' two-goal lead.
The hosts were rampant, their fans raucous - and United were reeling. Busby boldly opted to gamble on all-out attack and sent centre-back Sadler up to join the forwards. It paid off handsomely when Sadler evened up the tie on 73 minutes. Five minutes later Best produced a dazzling run to the right-hand by-line before sending in a cross for the other centre-back, Foulkes, to turn into the net. United had secured a stunning 4-3 aggregate victory.
The final was at Wembley on May 29 against Benfica. The Portuguese champions' 1961 triumph against Barcelona had broken Real Madrid's stranglehold on the cup, and they retained the trophy in 1962 against Real before losing the 1963 final to AC Milan (also at Wembley) and finishing as runners-up again in 1965, this time to Inter. It was a formidable pedigree, underlined by their route to the 1968 final which had included home and away victories over Juventus in the semi-final.
Laying the ghosts | Charlton holds European Cup
In Eusebio the Lisbon Eagles boasted one of Europe’s most fearsome strikers and the tournament's leading scorer that season. United on the other hand were without their cavalier inside-forward Law, hospitalised with a knee injury.
Charlton put United ahead with a rare headed goal eight minutes into the second half, but Jaime Graca equalised with 15 minutes to go. There were just seconds remaining of normal time when Eusebio - who'd earlier left United's crossbar shuddering from an explosive shot - burst clear of the defence with the goal at his mercy. He just needed to steer the ball past Alex Stepney into the corner and United were beaten. But he elected to hit it as hard as he could, Stepney got his fingertips to it in a remarkable reflex save and extra-time now beckoned.
"When Bobby took the Cup it cleansed me"
- Matt Busby |
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On a hot and humid evening United looked exhausted, but Busby rallied them before the action resumed. "If you pass the ball to each other you'll beat them," he told his players. And Benfica were tired too - something Best exploited with relish three minutes into the extra period when he set off on a mesmerising 25-yard dribble. He beat one defender, then another, before coolly side-stepping goalkeeper Jose Henrique and guiding the ball into the net.
The goal lifted United and suddenly Benfica were trying to stem an inexorable tide. The weariness dropped away from United limbs as Kidd celebrated his 19th birthday by heading home number three, before setting up a glorious fourth for captain Charlton.
When the final whistle blew, Charlton was crying unashamedly; Busby was also in tears as he joined his triumphant team on the pitch. Some of the agony of Munich had been assuaged.
The manager later revealed: "When Bobby took the Cup it cleansed me. It eased the pain of the guilt of going into Europe. It was my justification."
