1968 European Cup Final

Event

1967–68 European Cup

Benfica	Manchester United

1	4

After extra time

Date

29 May 1968

Venue

Wembley Stadium, London

Man of the Match

John Aston
(Manchester United)

Referee

Concetto Lo Bello (Italy)

Attendance

92,225

The 1968 European Cup Final was a football match played at Wembley Stadium on 29 May 1968 to determine the winners of the 1967–68 European Cup, the 13th season of the European Cup, a tournament organised by UEFA for the champions of European leagues. The final was contested by Benfica of Portugal and Manchester United of England, with Manchester United winning 4–1 after extra time.

Route to the final

For more details on this topic, see 1967–68 European Cup.

Benfica				Round	Manchester United
Opponent	Agg.	1st leg	2nd leg		Opponent	Agg.	1st leg	2nd leg
Glentoran	1–1 (a)	1–1 (A)	0–0 (H)	First round	Hibernians	4–0	4–0 (H)	0–0 (A)
Saint-Étienne	2–1	2–0 (H)	0–1 (A)	Second round	Sarajevo	2–1	0–0 (A)	2–1 (H)
Vasas	3–0	0–0 (A)	3–0 (H)	Quarter-finals	Górnik Zabrze	2–1	2–0 (H)	0–1 (A)
Juventus	3–0	2–0 (H)	1–0 (A)	Semi-finals	Real Madrid	4–3	1–0 (H)	3–3 (A)

Match

Overview

The first half passed without incident, but eight minutes into the second half, Bobby Charlton opened the scoring for Manchester United with a rare headed goal. However, the lead only lasted for 22 minutes before Jaime Graça scored for Benfica. Benfica almost had a chance to win the match near the end of normal time, but goalkeeper Alex Stepney made a crucial save during a one-on-one with Eusébio. Eusébio applauded the save.^[1]

The score remained at 1–1 until the end of normal time, forcing the match into extra time. The temperature was clearly playing a part in the players' fitness, and Benfica's players were clearly flagging when George Best put United in the lead again three minutes into extra time. Picking up the ball 25 yards from goal after the Benfica players failed to deal with Stepney's long kick downfield, Best broke into the penalty area and dribbled round the goalkeeper and rolled the ball into an empty net. Brian Kidd, who was celebrating his 19th birthday, added United's third a minute later, before Charlton rounded off the scoring before 100 minutes had been played.

United were without their high-scoring forward Denis Law, who was sidelined with a knee injury and watched the match on television while in hospital.^[2]

United's win meant that they became the first English team to win the European Cup, just a year after Celtic had become the first British team to do so. The win also marked the culmination of Manchester United's 10 years of rebuilding after the 1958 Munich air disaster, in which eight players had been killed and manager Matt Busby had been left fighting for his life. Captain Bobby Charlton and Bill Foulkes who had both survived the crash played in the game.

Details

Benfica v Manchester United

29 May 1968
19:45 BST

Benfica	1–4 (a.e.t.)	Manchester United
Graça 79'	Report	Charlton 53', 99' Best 92' Kidd 94'

Wembley Stadium, London
Attendance: 92,225
Referee: Concetto Lo Bello (Italy)

Benfica

Manchester United


GK	1	José Henrique
RB	2	Adolfo Calisto
CB	3	Humberto Fernandes	20'
CB	4	Jacinto Santos
LB	5	Fernando Cruz
RM	6	Jaime Graça
CM	7	Mário Coluna (c)
LM	8	José Augusto
RF	9	José Torres
CF	10	Eusébio
LF	11	António Simões
Substitute:
GK	12	Alfredo Henriques Nascimento
Manager:
Otto Glória


GK	1	Alex Stepney
RB	2	Shay Brennan
CB	5	Bill Foulkes
CB	10	David Sadler
LB	3	Tony Dunne
RM	4	Pat Crerand
CM	9	Bobby Charlton (c)
LM	6	Nobby Stiles
RF	7	George Best
CF	8	Brian Kidd
LF	11	John Aston
Substitute:
GK	12	Jimmy Rimmer
Manager:
Matt Busby

Man of the Match:
John Aston (Manchester United)^[3]

Linesmen:
Aurelio Angonese (Italy)
Francesco Francescon (Italy)

References

Murphy, Alex (2006). The Official Illustrated History of Manchester United. London: Orion Books. pp. 118–121. ISBN 0-7528-7603-1.
White, John D. T. (2008). The Official Manchester United Almanac. London: Orion Books. pp. 160–161. ISBN 978-0-7528-9192-7.
1968 European Cup Final - Manchester United 4 Benfica 1 (DVD). Manchester United. 29 May 1968.
"1968: Manchester Utd win European Cup". On This Day. BBC. 1968-05-29. Retrieved 19 September 2008.

Notes

↑
↑ "Denis Law". nationalfootballmuseum.com. Archived from the original on 22 June 2008. Retrieved 23 February 2013.
↑ Morgan, Steve (14 April 2009). "Portuguese links: A-M". ManUtd.com. Manchester United. Archived from the original on 17 April 2009. Retrieved 14 April 2009.

External links

European Cup and UEFA Champions League

European Cup era, 1955–1992

Seasons	1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92

Finals	1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992

Champions League era, 1992–present

Seasons	1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18

Finals	1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

International club football

FIFA FIFA Club World Cup List of association football clubs

Africa	CAF – Champions League Confederation Cup Super Cup Top-division clubs

Asia	AFC – Champions League AFC Cup Top-division clubs

Europe	UEFA – Champions League Europa League Super Cup Top-division clubs

North America, Central America and the Caribbean	CONCACAF – Champions League Top-division clubs

Oceania	OFC – Champions League Top-division clubs

South America	CONMEBOL – Copa Libertadores Copa Sudamericana Recopa Sudamericana Top-division clubs

See also: International women's club football

S.L. Benfica matches

Taça de Portugal Finals	1930 1931 1935 1938 1939 1940 1943 1944 1949 1951 1952 1953 1955 1957 1958 1959 1962 1964 1965 1969 1970 1971 1972 1974 1975 1980 1981 1983 1985 1986 1987 1989 1993 1996 1997 2004 2005 2013 2014

Taça da Liga Finals	2009 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira	1980 1981 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1989 1991 1993 1994 1996 2004 2005 2010 2014 2015 2016

European Cup Finals	1961 1962 1963 1965 1968 1988 1990

UEFA Europa League Finals	1983 2013 2014

Intercontinental Cup	1961 1962

Manchester United F.C. matches

FA Cup Finals	1909 1948 1957 1958 1963 1976 1977 1979 1983 1985 1990 1994 1995 1996 1999 2004 2005 2007 2016

League Cup Finals	1983 1991 1992 1994 2003 2006 2009 2010

FA Community Shields	1908 1911 1948 1952 1956 1957 1963 1965 1967 1977 1983 1985 1990 1993 1994 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2003 2004 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2013 2016

UEFA Champions League Finals	1968 1999 2008 2009 2011

European Cup Winners' Cup Final	1991

UEFA Super Cups	1991 1999 2008

Intercontinental Cups	1968 1999

FIFA Club World Cup Final	2008

Other matches	Manchester United–Arsenal brawl (1990) Manchester United 9–0 Ipswich Town (1995) Nottingham Forest 1–8 Manchester United (1999) Battle of Old Trafford (2003) Battle of the Buffet (2004) UEFA Celebration Match (2007) Manchester United 4–3 Manchester City (2009) 2010 MLS All-Star 2011 MLS All-Star 2013 A-League All Stars

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/14/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.