THE RED DEVILS

 

Manchester United are "The Red Devils"

This Wednesday, February 13, all European football fans will have their eyes on the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, where Real Madrid will play against the English team Manchester United. Every time these two teams face each other, all attention is placed on them since they are two of the most laureate teams all around Europe.

Let´s talk about Manchester United, one of the most important football teams ever, not only in Britain, but in the whole European continent. Founded in 1878 with the name Newton Heath F.C., it changed to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to their current home, Old Trafford, in 1910.



Bobby Charlton nicknamed Old Trafford "The Theatre of Dreams"

Manchester United has won many trophies in English football, including a record 19 league titles, a record 11 FA Cups, four league cups and a record 19 FA Community Shields. The club has also won three European Cups, one UEFA Cup Winners´Cup, one UEFA Supercup, one Intercontinental Cup and one FIFA Club World Cup.

A poster with United´s greatest legends

 

 

The most dramatic moment in their history occurred on 6 February 1958 when the team was returning from a European Cup match in Belgrade. The plane on which the team was travelling crashed in Munich airport when it was trying to take off after having stopped to refuel. 23 people died, including 8 players. Fortunately, among the survivors were some people so important for Manchester United like manager Matt Busby and legend-player Bobby Charlton. Here yo have some images of the disaster.

It´s impossible to understand Manchester United´s history without learning about Matt Busby. He was the team´s manager for 25 years (1944-1969) and he took the team to play the impoprtant role they have always had since then. His greatest achievement was the European Cup in 1968 (the first for an English team). At Wembley, they beat Portuguese champions Benfica 4-1. It was the time of players that are now football legends: Bobby Charlton, George Best, Patt Crerand or Nobby Stiles.

 

 

Thirty-one years later(1999),  Manchester United won their second European Cup in Barcelona in one of the most thrilling and unbelievable finals anyone can remember. The match will always be remembered for Manchester United scoring two last-minute goals in injury time to beat Bayern Munich 2-1, after having trailed for most of the match. The most important players in that team were Peter Schmeichel, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham or final scorer Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Sir Alex Ferguson was the manager.

Their third and last Champions League victory was in Moscow in 2008 in the first all-English final as they beat Chelsea F.C. 6-5 on penalties, after a 1-1 draw following extra-time. Though not the most brilliant of matches, the game was hardly contested by both teams. Among Manchester United´s players, we can mention Paul Scholes, Cristiano Ronaldo (he scored their goal) or Wayne Rooney. Sir Alex Ferguson was still the manager.

 

Of course, this will not be the first time Manchester United plays against Real Madrid. They have faced each other four times in the European Cup history. All of them have been exciting heats. Recently, it is impossible to forget the confrontations in 2000 (Real Madrid´s fans will always have the match in Manchester as one of their most affectionate memories) and 2003 (when Brazilian forward Ronaldo destroyed all the English team´s efforts to win on his own)

 

 

Manchester United is today one of the wealthiest and most widely supported teams in the world and has one of the highest average home attendances in Europe. Wherever you go, you will find people who support this team, which has already become, on their own merits, a real legend of football.

 

So, when next Wednesday, the match kicks off, it will not be the beginning of one more match. Probably the best two teams in the world will keep in suspense all good football fans worldwide for the next fortnight. MAY THE BEST WIN!