David Beckham was famed for his ability to set up goals, as well as score them, and he managed to contribute eight assists in 10 games during Manchester United’s Champions League-winning campaign in 1998/99.
The homegrown product even sat out the highest-scoring match of the run, the 6-2 battering of Brondby, but was instrumental in the final leg of the Treble triumph and fed in a stream of inviting of balls from the flank.
In the home game against Barcelona on 16 September, he played a leading role in an absolute thriller that ended 3-3. A gorgeous cross on the run after getting past Sergi provided the headed opener for Ryan Giggs and chalked up his first assist of the run. After his cross ultimately led to Paul Scholes’s second, once Andy Cole’s acrobatic effort was saved, he scored a trademark free-kick for United’s third strike.
Watch all eight of Beckham's assists during our triumphant 1998/99 Champions League campaign.
A 2-2 draw followed at Bayern Munich and it was Beckham’s right-wing cross, despite being fouled as he made contact with the ball, that yielded Dwight Yorke’s far-post leveller. He may have missed the demolition in Denmark but was back for the Old Trafford leg as the Reds racked up a 5-0 triumph over Brondby. After opening the scoring with another free-kick, he teased in a centre for Yorke to head number four and took a quick set-piece that led to Scholes’s solo strike.
Another 3-3 cracker at the Nou Camp featured Beckham playing the pass that led to the amazing Yorke-Cole combination for one of the goals and the England international supplied a near-post cross for Yorke to stoop to head the third United effort.