Manchester United F.C. season 1998–99

Infobox Football club season
club = Manchester United
season = 1998–99
manager = flagicon|SCO Sir Alex Ferguson
chairman = flagicon|ENG Martin Edwards
league = FA Premier League
league result = 1st
cup1 = FA Cup
cup1 result = Winners
cup2 = Worthington Cup
cup2 result = Quarter-finals
cup3 = Charity Shield
cup3 result = Runners-up
cup4 = UEFA Champions League
cup4 result = Winners
league topscorer =
Dwight Yorke (18)
season topscorer =
Dwight Yorke (29)
highest attendance = 55,316 vs Southampton (27 February 1999)
lowest attendance = 37,237 vs Nottingham Forest (11 November 1998)
prevseason = 1997–98
nextseason = 1999–2000The 1998–99 season was the most successful in the history of Manchester United Football Club. United won the FA Premier League, the FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League. This made them the first club from the five major European domestic leagues to complete a Treble of the above 3 competitions. United went undefeated from December 1998 – May 1999, a run of 33 matches.

United gained a reputation for winning matches after being behind. Some of their more notable come-backs were the FA Cup Fourth Round tie at home to Liverpool, which Liverpool led from the third to the 85th minute, and both legs of the UEFA Champions League semi-finals against Juventus F.C. Most dramatic was the UEFA Champions League final against Bayern Munich win in stoppage time gave United a 2–1 win.

United lost five times in the entire season; three in the league, one in the Charity Shield and one in the League Cup. They defeated every other Premiership team at least once and were undefeated in the Champions League – Barcelona were the only team that United played in Europe without beating them at least once.

Around this time, United was the world's richest club, with turnover at £110 million. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20001206/ai_n14360863]

Pre-season and friendlies

The previous season Manchester United failed to win a trophy for the second time in the 1990s. The start of the season will also be remembered for the return of David Beckham to competitive action following the 1998 World Cup, where he had attracted enormous criticism following his red-card against Argentina, and the threat of a takeover by Rupert Murdoch and British Sky Broadcasting. United signed three new players before the beginning of the 1998–99 season: Dwight Yorke was brought in from Aston Villa, Jaap Stam from PSV Eindhoven became the world's most expensive defender and the Swedish left winger Jesper Blomqvist was signed from Parma. A deal to sell Ole Gunnar Solskjær to Tottenham Hotspur was agreed, but Solskjær himself made it clear that he did not want to leave United. Eventually the deal was not completed - a decision that United did not come to regret.

The opening game of the season was the Charity Shield, in which United lost 3–0 to the previous season's double winners Arsenal. The game saw the return of club captain Roy Keane after almost a year out injured, and Jaap Stam making his debut for the club.

Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

FA Cup

Despite receiving a home draw in each of their first four rounds (3rd – 6th), United were paired against difficult opponents throughout the competition. On their route to the final they defeated five Premier League teams: Middlesbrough, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Newcastle United. The only non-Premiership team that United played in the competition was Fulham, who, at the time, played in the third tier of English football, Division Two.

In the Third Round of the cup, United were drawn against Middlesbrough, who had recently beaten them in the league. Andy Townsend gave Middlesbrough the lead at half time, but goals from Andy Cole, Denis Irwin and Ryan Giggs gave United a 3–1 victory.

United were drawn at home to rivals Liverpool in the Fourth Round. Liverpool took the lead from a Michael Owen header after three minutes. United created plenty of goalscoring chances and had a shot cleared off the line by their former player Paul Ince but did not equalise until the 86th minute when Dwight Yorke finished off from a David Beckham free-kick. In the second minute of stoppage time, Ole Gunnar Solskjær hit a shot which sent Liverpool's goalkeeper David James the wrong way to give United a 2–1 win.

Andy Cole scored the only goal as United knocked out Fulham in the Fifth Round. United then played Chelsea in the Sixth Round at Old Trafford. Although there were no goals, Paul Scholes and Roberto Di Matteo were both sent-off and missed the replay at Chelsea's ground, Stamford Bridge.In the replay, Dwight Yorke, who had scored both goals in United's 2–0 win over Internazionale a week earlier, repeated the feat, scoring both of United's goals in another 2–0 win.

United also played Arsenal in the semi-final replay at Villa Park. Although the semi-final finished with no goals and a debatably disallowed Roy Keane goal (Keane was given offside after Ryan Giggs had knocked the ball past a defender, run on to collect the ball himself and then pulled it back into the area), the teams could not be separated after 120 minutes and the game had to be replayed three days later.

The replay included a goal by Ryan Giggs, a disallowed goal, a red card, and a penalty. The game's first goal was scored by David Beckham, a long-range effort from outside the penalty area. After chances for both teams, Dennis Bergkamp drew Arsenal level with a shot that deflected off United's centre-back Jaap Stam. Arsenal then thought they had taken the lead when Nicolas Anelka put the ball in the back of United's net. Just as in the first game though, the goal was ruled out for offside, albeit correctly this time. United's captain Roy Keane was red-carded for two bookable offences and United played the last thirty minutes of normal time with ten men. In injury time at the end of the second half, Phil Neville fouled Ray Parlour in the penalty area and Arsenal were awarded a penalty. Peter Schmeichel parried away Dennis Bergkamp's resultant spot kick and the game went into extra time.

Part way through the second-half of extra time, Ryan Giggs scored. He picked up possession on the halfway line after a loose pass from Patrick Vieira. Giggs ran away from the half-way line, dribbling past the whole Arsenal back line, before scoring a left-footed strike just under David Seaman's bar and beyond him. Giggs ran celebrating towards the United fans and Man United held on to beat the Gunners 2–1 after extra time. The goal proved to be the last ever scored in FA Cup semi-final replays, which were abolished the following season.

United met Newcastle United in the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium, the penultimate FA Cup final to be held there before it was closed for rebuilding. Newcastle had lost the 1998 FA Cup final 2–0 to Arsenal.

Less than 10 minutes into the match, United's captain Roy Keane was injured and replaced by Teddy Sheringham. He and Paul Scholes both finished with a goal apiece in the 2–0 win. United had now completed their third "Double"

Group stage

In the group stage, United were drawn together with Barcelona, German champions Bayern Munich and Danish side Brøndby.

Both games against Barcelona ended 3–3. At Old Trafford, Beckham scored a free-kick while the visitors had to rely on Luis Enrique and Giovanni penalties to earn them a point. In the return game at Camp Nou, Man United achieved another 3–3 draw.

United were denied victory by Bayern Munich twice home and away. In Munich, the home side equalised with two minutes to go with United leading 2–1, after Schmeichel failed to hold a throw-in, which was tapped in from a few yards out. In the return leg, Bayern came back from behind again when Roy Keane's goal was cancelled out by Hasan Salihamidžić.

United inflicted two heavy defeats on Brondby, beating them 6–2 in Copenhagen and 5–0 at Old Trafford.

Results in other groups meant that the second place finish was enough for United to progress to the quarter-finals. Bayern Munich finished top of the group and went through to the quarter-final stage as well.

United were without their first-choice central midfielders, Roy Keane and Paul Scholes, as both had received yellow cards in the previous match against Juventus and were suspended for the final, so Ferguson reorganised the team. Jesper Blomqvist and Nicky Butt replaced Keane and Scholes, with David Beckham moving from right-wing to centre-midfield and Ryan Giggs moving from the left to the right wing. United lined up in their normal 4-4-2 formation.

Bayern Munich opened the scoring, Mario Basler scoring a free-kick after six minutes. Bayern then had the chance to extend there lead with, Mehmet Scholl hitting the post and Carsten Jancker the crossbar, and forcing Peter Schmeichel to make numerous saves.

Needing a goal, Alex Ferguson substituted in Solskjær and Sheringham. As the game went to injury time, referee Pierluigi Collina indicated that three minutes would be played.

In one of the last attacks of the game, United gained a corner, which Beckham took. Keeper Schmeichel went up front for it. After the ball had been partially cleared, it was played back in to the feet of Ryan Giggs who sent a low volley into the path of Sheringham, who sent his scuffed shot low inside the post.

Almost immediately after the equaliser, United won another corner, again taken by Beckham. He landed the ball on the head of Sheringham who nodded it to Solskjær who toe-poked it into the roof of the net. Oliver Kahn, the German goalkeeper was motionless on the line. United had completed the come-back. The Bayern team barely managed to restart the game, which referee Collina brought to a close just a few moments later.

During the celebrations United captain on the night – Peter Schmeichel – and manager Alex Ferguson both lifted the trophy together to the crowd. Normally, the captain alone lifts the trophy for the first time. Despite being suspended for the final, both Roy Keane and Paul Scholes received winners’ medals on the rostrum. Keane claims that to date he has not looked at the medal, feeling that his absence from the final had tainted the accomplishment to the extent that he didn't earn the medal.fact|date=July 2008 Substituted Bayern legend Lothar Matthäus removed his runner-up medal as soon as he received it and later asserted that United were "lucky" to win the final. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sport/football/353876.stm BBC News | Football | Matthaus: United were lucky ] ]

Manchester United became the first English team to win the European Cup/Champions League since the 1985 Heysel Stadium disaster, in which Liverpool lost 1–0 to Juventus. Liverpool had won the European Cup in 1984, defeating Roma on penalties.

Three is the Magic Number

3 was a common number in relation to United throughout the season as a whole.

*Being victorious in the League, FA Cup and Champions League - coupled with a loss in the Charity Shield - meant that United ended the season with 3 trophies.
*United lost only 3 league games all season - to Arsenal, Sheffield Wednesday and Middlesbrough, strangely conceding 3 goals in each defeat and scoring a total of 3 goals over the three games that they lost.
*United played Bayern Munich 3 times over the season. In the two draws in the Group Stages of the Champions League United scored (and conceded) a total of 3 goals. In addition, there were a total of 3 goals in the Final.
*United scored (and conceded) 3 goals in both games against FC Barcelona in the Champions League group stages.
*United scored 3 goals in total against Inter Milan, and scored 3 goals in the win over Juventus.
*United brought in 3 players in the Close season before the start of the 1998-99 season.
*There were 3 minutes of extra time in the Champions League Final.

Close season

United paraded the Premiership, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League trophies through the city of Manchester on an open-topped bus. A crowd of over 500,000 people lined the streets to cheer them on. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7410000/newsid_7411000/7411075.stm] That summer, David Beckham finished second in the European Footballer of the Year award and United's manager Alex Ferguson was knighted.

During the 1999–2000 season, United, as Champions of Europe, were invited to play in the Intercontinental Cup against Brazilian side, Palmeiras – a game won 1–0 thanks to a Roy Keane goal. In a controversial move, United — under pressure from the FA, UEFA and the British Government (all for different reasons) - withdrew from the 1999–2000 FA Cup, the first time that the holders had failed to defend their trophy. Instead, they played in the inaugural Club World Championship, this time a group competition, including teams like Real Madrid, amongst others. However, United struggled in the tournament, failing to reach the latter stages of the competition.

quad statistics

Notes and references

External links

* [http://www.treble1999.co.uk Treble1999]
* [http://www.man-utd-news.blogspot.com Man Utd news blog]