The two defining figures of Manchester United, Sirs Matt Busby and Alex Ferguson, shared a disciplinarian streak, remarkable adaptability and a fierce fascination with continental competition.
Paddy Crerand, who won the 1968 European Cup under Busby, reflected: “He was obsessed with Europe and all the players were aware of that. We wanted to win it anyway because we wanted to be the best team, but it made it even more important to do it for Matt.”
Ferguson lifted the Champions League trophy twice but retired ruing: “We should’ve won it more.”
On this draining quest for European glory, United are doomed to fall short each time they fail to hoist the big-eared pot aloft. Some of the club’s Champions League campaigns have strayed further away from success than others, to put it mildly.
Final round: Last 16
Record: P8 W4 D1 L3
The dream ending to Ferguson’s final campaign in the Old Trafford dugout was one last European trophy to saviour. Yet, that flickering ambition was extinguished by a controversial defeat in the last 16 at home to Real Madrid.
Cristiano Ronaldo, a former United player who viewed Ferguson as a father figure, delivered the telling blow but referee Cuneyt Cakir was held to blame for many by showing Nani a soft red card.
Ferguson was so incensed that he didn’t speak to the press. Jose Mourinho, his victorious opposite number, found time to say: “The better team lost.”
Final round: Last 16
Record: P8 W3 D2 L3
United went into the final week of the first phase top of their group ahead of a trip to Turkey to face Fenerbahce, a side they had dismantled 6-2 at Old Trafford six weeks earlier.
Yet, a hat-trick from Tuncay – the second treble United had ever conceded in the competition – consigned Ferguson’s side to second place behind Lyon, teeing up a menacing last-16 draw against AC Milan. Carlo Ancelotti’s star-studded outfit would reach that year’s final and were comfortably superior over each tie, which both ended 1-0 to the Italians.
Final round: Last 16
Record: P8 W3 D3 L2
Each round of Man Utd’s 2021/22 Champions League group stage mimicked a lazy Roy of the Rovers storyline conjured by the mind of Ronaldo. The Portuguese forward scored six goals, including four in the final 12 minutes of matches to secure three wins and a draw for United.
Yet, there was no space left in the comic strip for the knockout rounds. As United lost 2-1 on aggregate to Atletico Madrid, Ronaldo was left to walk through the bowels of the Spanish stadium reminding anyone that would listen how many Champions League trophies he had won (five) compared to the capital club (zero).
Final round: Last 16
Record: P8 W5 D1 L2
Mourinho claimed United’s second-place Premier League finish in 2018 was the “greatest achievement” of his trophy-laden managerial career but even the master manipulator struggled to put a positive spin on his side’s limp showing in Europe.
After topping a weak group with Basel, CSKA Moscow and Benfica, United delivered a pair of insipid displays in the round of 16 against Sevilla. Fortunate to earn a goalless draw in Spain, United slumped to a 2-1 reverse at Old Trafford. When asked what must change for his side to improve, Mourinho simply said: “Everything.”
Welcome to Hell. Galatasaray, 1993. pic.twitter.com/RSozSe9SSh
— Old Footy Pics (@old_footy_pics) September 2, 2020
Final round: Second round
Record: P4 W2 D2 L0
United’s first taste of Europe’s premier club competition since 1968 ended after four games. Before a group stage had been introduced to the format, United bowed out in the second round on away goals after failing to score against Galatasaray in Istanbul.
The English champions were infamously greeted with banners welcoming them to hell and the home fans lived up to their devilish billing. Amid a torrent of insults, flares and flying bricks, Ferguson bemoaned “as much hostility and harassment as I have ever known on a football expedition”.
Final round: Group stage
Record: P6 W2 D3 L1
“Are you serious?” Ferguson asked in astonishment. Man Utd’s manager had been quizzed as to why the Premier League’s best clubs were struggling in Europe that season. “We’re not struggling,” Ferguson sneered before abruptly leaving the press conference.
United weren’t exactly soaring either. The club’s only loss in the group stage proved decisive, as a shock defeat away to Basel in the final round of fixtures condemned Ferguson to a rare group-stage exit – only the club’s third in 17 years.
Final round: Group stage
Record: P6 W2 D2 L2
Despite dominating the Premier League, United suffered in Europe during the early 1990s. Partly down to the limit on non-British players – only three foreigners, including Irishmen Denis Irwin and Roy Keane, were allowed each game – and the quality on the continent.
Both factors contributed to the 4-0 thrashing United suffered at Barcelona‘s Camp Nou in 1994. “We were demolished,” Paul Parker conceded. “Barcelona gave us a hiding,” Keane said of what remains the club’s largest European defeat. Ferguson couldn’t hide his frustration at “a humiliating experience”.
Final round: Group stage
Record: P6 W2 D2 L2
Chants of “Attack, attack, attack” plagued Louis van Gaal’s tenure but they may have been best replaced with calls for defence in the club’s final group game.
A calamitous 3-2 reverse against Wolfsburg in Germany ended United’s Champions League campaign before Christmas. The disastrous tour of Europe began with a shock defeat away to PSV in which Luke Shaw suffered the leg break that derailed the first three years of the left-back’s career at the club.
Final round: Group stage
Record: P6 W3 D0 L3
A total of just 2,110 people collectively attended United’s Champions League fixtures during the 2020/21 COVID-blighted campaign. While the majority missed out on the highs of defeating Paris Saint-Germain in France and romping five goals past RB Leipzig, they were also spared the calamitous defeat to Istanbul Basaksehir.
The image of Demba Ba trundling unopposed into United’s empty half, opening the scoring for Basaksehir in a slow-motion breakaway from a defensive corner, will live long in the memory of any witness, from wherever they watched the mayhem unfold.
Two late goals against Leipzig in the final round of fixtures disguised the gap in class between United and their opponents, but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side still exited the competition with a 3-2 loss.
Final round: Group stage
Record: P6 W1 D3 L2
Not since a fan unfurled a banner which read ‘Ta Ra Fergie’ in 1989 had Ferguson’s position in charge of United felt as untenable as the winter of 2005.
United were coming off the back of consecutive third-place league finishes and had slumped to bottom place in their Champions League group, below Villarreal, Benfica and Lille. Ferguson’s side had been able to muster just three goals in the competition, fewer than 12 individual players that year, including Werder Bremen midfielder Johan Micoud.
Just to pour salt into the open wound, the defeat that decided United’s fate came away to Benfica, the same opponents that Busby’s legendary vintage had beaten to win the club’s first European Cup.
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