400 games and counting in Europe...

Manchester United’s memorable 2-1 win over Barcelona at Old Trafford in February was a milestone night in more ways than one.

Not only did the Reds defeat the Catalans for the first time since 2008, securing a berth in the Europa League round of 16 in the process, it was United’s 400th match in UEFA club competition.

The club, of course, has a gilded history in Europe, winning three European Cups, a Europa League title and the Cup Winners’ Cup since making our first sojourn to the continent under Matt Busby in September 1956.

As we prepare to face Real Betis in match no.401, here are some stats from our European story so far…

RECORD IN FULL*

*Excludes 11 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup games, as this competition is not recognised by UEFA.

LONGEST AND SHORTEST TRIPS

United’s furthest European away trip came against Kazakhstan’s Astana in 2019, where a 6,000km round-trip rounded off the Reds’ Europa League group-stage campaign with a 1-2 defeat. Conversely, the shortest was the sub-hour jaunt to Anfield in the same competition three years prior.

MILESTONE MATCHES

1st – Anderlecht (h) 2-0 (1956)
50th – Juventus (h) 1-0 (1976)
100th – Gothenburg (a) 1-3 (1994)
150th – Anderlecht (h) 5-1 (2000)
200th – Panathinaikos (a) 1-0 (2003)
250th – Celtic (h) 3-0 (2008)
300th – Real Madrid (a) 1-1 (2013)
350th – Juventus (h) 0-1 (2018)
400th – Barcelona (h) 2-1 (2023)

WINNING RUNS

United’s longest winning run in European competition is six successive victories, by virtue of home and away triumphs over HJK Helsinki, ASK Vorwarts and SL Benfica in the 1965/66 European Cup. The Reds have strung together five straight wins on five previous occasions: the 1997/98 group stage, shared between the 2002/03 group stages, the 2007/08 group stage, 2010/11 knockout stages (all Champions League) and this season’s Europa League group stage – a run ended by a first-leg draw in the Nou Camp.

RECURRING FIXTURES

Real Betis will be the 112th club we've met from 33 different nations across UEFA competitions, and Barcelona are our most regular opponents with 15 encounters, ahead of Juventus (14 times), AC Milan (12) and Bayern Munich, Benfica and Real Madrid (11 apiece). Barça and Juve are the only sides we’ve met in three different UEFA competitions: the Champions League, Europa League and Cup Winners’ Cup.

BIGGEST HOME WINS

United 10 Anderlecht 0, European Cup, 26/09/1956
United 7 Waterford 1, European Cup, 2/10/1968
United 7 Roma 1, Champions League, 10/4/2007
United 6 HJK Helsinki 0, European Cup, 6/10/1965
United 6 Willem II 1, Cup Winners’ Cup, 15/10/1963

BIGGEST AWAY WINS

Shamrock Rovers 0 United 6, European Cup, 25/09/1957
Benfica 1 United 5, European Cup, 09/03/1966
Brondby 2 United 6, Champions League, 21/10/1998
Leverkusen 0 United 5, Champions League, 27/11/2013
LASK Linz 0 United 5, Europa League, 12/03/2020

WHO'S BEEN IN CHARGE?

Erik ten Hag is the 13th different United manager to oversee a United game in Europe and the Dutchman has won six of his eight continental matches in charge so far. Sir Alex Ferguson was boss for over half (226) of our matches in UEFA competitions, with Busby (45) and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (35) managing the next most. Every permanent Reds gaffer since Tommy Docherty has been in the dugout for at least one European match, with caretaker boss Michael Carrick also overseeing one game: the 2-0 victory over Villarreal in November 2021.

FINAL COUNTDOWN

United have fought for silverware on 12 occasions in Europe, winning European Cup/Champions League finals in 1968, 1999 and 2008 but losing to Pep Guardiola's Barcelona in 2009 and 2011. We beat the Catalans 2-1 in Rotterdam in 1991 to claim the European Cup Winners' Cup and completed our collection of continental trophies in 2017, with victory over Ajax in the Europa League final in Stockholm. A repeat triumph was denied us four years later as Villarreal defeated the Reds on penalties after a 1-1 draw in Gdansk.

Our other four European 'finals' have all come in the UEFA Super Cup. We claimed that trophy in 1991 following a 1-0 win over Red Star Belgrade at Old Trafford but have come up short against Lazio, Zenit Saint-Petersburg and Real Madrid in subsequent games.

MOST APPEARANCES

1. Ryan Giggs – 158
2. Paul Scholes – 136
3. Gary Neville – 119
4. Wayne Rooney – 99
5. Rio Ferdinand – 92
6. Michael Carrick – 86
7. David Beckham – 84
8. Roy Keane – 83
9. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – 82
10. John O’Shea – 77

MOST GOALS

1. Wayne Rooney – 39 (99 apps)
2. Ruud van Nistelrooy – 38 (47)
3. Ryan Giggs – 29 (158)
4. Paul Scholes – 26 (136)
5. Cristiano Ronaldo – 24 (68)
6. Marcus Rashford – 23 (63)
=7. Denis Law – 20 (23)
=7. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – 20 (82)
9. Andy Cole – 19 (51)
10. David Beckham – 15 (84)

A longer version of this feature was first published in the Barcelona edition of United Review

The Real Betis edition of our official matchday programme is available to purchase online or at Old Trafford on Thursday.