Manchester United have enjoyed many memorable European nights away from home over the years, and ahead of their season-defining trip to Bilbao to play Athletic Club on Thursday night the Talk of the Devils crew of Ian Irving, Laurie Whitwell, and Andy Mitten looked back at some of their favourites.
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Unsurprisingly a famous comeback in Turin came up almost instantly, but you can listen to the full episode below or in the Talk of the Devils podcast feed to hear the rest of the gang’s selections.
This partial transcript has been edited for clarity and length. The full episode is available on the Talk of the Devils feed on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Ian: This one’s from Al (listener), “The best European away game was the 3-2 against Juventus in 1999. They had two early goals, and I thought it was over. But Roy Keane had an awesome performance after the disappointment of knowing he would miss the final. Also brilliant Yorke and Cole interplay and attacking football.”
Also from Reina (listener), “The best away game was the 3- 2 away in Turin during the 1998-99 season. I was just a little boy at the time. I’d been in the hospital for the first leg, and the nurses were kind enough to let me stay up past curfew to watch the game. You can imagine how devastated I was when Juventus scored two quick goals, but then came a comeback for the ages. Crowned by a fantastic performance from Keane. What could possibly top that?”
But Laurie, you want to bust a myth about Roy Keane in this game, don’t you?
Laurie: They’ve referenced it there in terms of Keane putting in that incredible performance after he got booked, which obviously he did, and he stepped it up. But he did actually score before he got booked. Even in my mind, I just thought, “Yeah, he got booked and then he went and scored and transformed the whole mood.”
But it had actually turned already at that point. But still, for him to go and perform like he did and basically drag United to the semi-final should be remembered for what it was. Paul Scholes actually came on as a sub and also got booked eight minutes in, so they both missed the final through suspension. We’ll get onto this on another podcast, but I remember being there and their disappointment was evident, and they didn’t really want to have that much to do with the celebrations when they were all parading the European Cup at the Nou Camp.
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Ian: Roy Keane in Turin was arguably the greatest-ever performance from a Manchester United player away in Europe. It was up there with that George Best game that we talked about in 1966. Andy, the Barcelona defenders also felt like they were watching tennis when they were playing against Yorke and Cole in that game didn’t they? It was unbelievable.
Andy: I sat next to Hugh McIlvanney, the great Scottish journalist, that night. And he’d seen the lot by that point. But even he was just purring in admiration, going, “Wonderful, wonderful,” and I was thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, this is the great Hugh McIlvanney and he’s talking about my football team, this is wonderful.’ Turin is the best Manchester United performance I’ve ever seen in Europe, and Roy Keane’s performance was outstanding. Years later, I bumped into him at the 10th or 15th anniversary, and I said, “What about that game in Turin?” and he said, “I did alright.” But he did better than alright…
Laurie: He did his job…
Andy: He did his job, exactly (laughs). But he did better than alright, and we are allowed to have a different opinion from him, even though he was on the pitch. But Juventus were the best team in the world at that point, they were 2-0 up, and Manchester United won 3-2 away to reach their first European final since 1968. Juventus had Zinedine Zidane, Edgar Davids and Didier Deschamps, they had amazing players. But United beat them.
Ian: Yeah, it doesn’t really get much better than that run to the final, for so many different reasons, and I think that’s the best place to leave it. Let’s hope there are more glorious Manchester United European away displays left, even in this campaign. Just one more would be nice on Thursday night.
Remember, you can listen to full episodes of Talk of the Devils on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
(Top Photo: Michael Steele/EMPICS via Getty Images)
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