1968 European Cup Final

1968 European Cup Final

Event	European Cup 1967–68
Benfica Manchester United 1 4
Date	29 May 1968
Venue	Wembley Stadium, London
Man of the Match	John Aston (Manchester United)
Referee	Concetto Lo Bello (Italy)
Attendance	92,225
← 1967 1969 →

The 1968 European Cup Final was the 13th European Cup Final and the culmination of the 1967–68 European Cup, a club football tournament for the champions of European leagues. The match was held at Wembley Stadium, London, on 29 May 1968, between Manchester United of England and Benfica of Portugal. United beat the Portuguese champions 4–1 after extra time.

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. The score remained at 1–1 until the end of normal time, forcing the match into extra time, but it might not have ended that way had Alex Stepney not made a crucial save when one-on-one with Eusébio.

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.^[1]

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 ten 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

Match details

29 May 1968	Benfica	1 – 4 (a.e.t.)	Manchester United	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 92,225 Referee: Concetto Lo Bello (Italy)
	Graça  75'	Report	Charlton  53', 99' Best  93' Kidd  94'

Benfica

Manchester United

BENFICA: GK 1 José Henrique RB 2 Adolfo Calisto CB 3 Humberto Fernandes 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: 12 Nascimento Manager: Otto Glória

MANCHESTER UNITED: 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[2] Linesmen Aurelio Angonese (Venice) Francesco Francescon (Padua)

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. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/29/newsid_4464000/4464446.stm. Retrieved 19 September 2008. 

Notes

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ Morgan, Steve (14 April 2009). "Portuguese links: A-M". ManUtd.com (Manchester United). http://www.manutd.com/default.sps?pagegid={6DDFCB6E-3471-4E45-9385-F04D05F4A70D}&newsid=6630676. Retrieved 14 April 2009. 

External links

• Colour video footage of the victory
• 1967-68 season at UEFA website
• European Cup results at Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation