Match Rewind: Four United away wins in Europe
With our 'Match Rewind' series, we're making sure your ready supply of quality Manchester United action remains intact, despite the current postponement to the 2019/20 season.
Every other day, we're allowing you to select a classic contest from our overflowing archives, which we will then stream in full, for free, on our website and Official App.
This time, the theme is great away wins in Europe.
United and the European Cup/Champions League have been synonymous for decades, dating back to the adventurous spirit of Sir Matt Busby's Babes in the 1950s, and there's little more thrilling for Reds than seeing the lads take apart the continent's biggest names on their own turf.
We've identified four of the best examples from that particular genre, which you can read about below, before making your vote...
JUVENTUS 0 UNITED 3 (2002/03)
The Italian giants hadn't conceded a Champions League goal at the Stadio delle Alpi in over 700 minutes when Sir Alex Ferguson's team arrived in Turin in February 2003. It took United just a smidgeon over an hour to completely dismantle that little record and Ryan Giggs, specifically, needed barely 40 minutes to make legendary opponents like Gianluigi Buffo, Ciro Ferrara and Lilian Thuram look a bit daft. The Welshman wasn't even in the starting line-up – with a League Cup final against Liverpool looming the following weekend – but he was called into action when Diego Forlan was stretchered off during the opening minutes.
First, Giggs slid home Veron's cut-back to break the deadlock, and then he delivered a wonderful solo effort reminiscent of his famous Arsenal-slaying effort in the 1999 FA Cup semi-final replay. He was taken off just after half-time but his replacement, Ruud van Nistelrooy, made it three just after the hour-mark. A vintage United away performance against opponents that would reach that year's final (played at Old Trafford), select this if you want to see Giggs, Beckham, Solskjaer and Keane (who played as a central defender for much of the match) et al at something close to their peak.
ROMA 0 UNITED 2 (2007/08)
The Reds had been beaten in the Stadio Olimpico a year earlier, with Paul Scholes sent off on a difficult night that was marred by trouble in the stands. But a year later, they got it incontestably spot-on in the first leg of this quarter-final. Disciplined at the back, creative in midfield, and deadly up front, the Giallorossi were no match for us.
Scholes found some personal redemption with a delicious cross for the opener, which was powered in with brave, brute force by Cristiano Ronaldo, for one of his most memorable United goals. "You can't deny the boy's confidence and courage," said a clearly proud Ferguson. Rooney then tapped home a second after the interval, giving us a comfortable advantage for the return leg in M16, where we'd continue on our path to the first of three Champions League finals in four years.
ARSENAL 1 UNITED 3 (2008/09)
United had built a fearsome, cultured team in the late noughties, that featured the attacking thrust of our best '90s sides allied with a new composure and tactical discipline. We led 1-0 heading into the second leg of this 2009 semi-final, and our experience and big-match mentality soon rose to the fore, as Arsene Wenger's team wilted.
A mistake from young Kieron Gibbs allowed Ji-sung Park to net the opener, before Cristiano Ronaldo turned on the afterburners. A ridiculous 40-yard free-kick stunned the Emirates into silence, making it 3-0 on aggregate, and one of the all-time great counter-attacking goals under Ferguson followed in the second period, as Park, Rooney and Ronaldo combined to delicious effect. Arsenal managed a late consolation through a Robin van Persie penalty, and Darren Fletcher would receive a crushingly unfair red card, but this was the most glorious of European aways – albeit in the familiar surroundings of the English capital.
PSG 1 UNITED 3 (2018/19)
Barely a year old, this encounter surely remains fresh in everyone's mind. With 10 senior players unavailable, and the Parisians boasting a 2-0 lead from the first leg at Old Trafford, few onlookers gave Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's United a prayer when we travelled to the Parc des Princes last March. But the Reds were inspired, with unsung heroes like Scott McTominay and Fred supplying performances of stunning maturity, and Marcus Rashford and Romelu Lukaku ruthless in attack.
The French champions dominated much of the play, but sterling defending from Chris Smalling, in particular, kept the Reds in it, and a Lukaku double put us within one goal of progressing on away goals. It came, via the most dramatic of incidents: a VAR-assisted penalty awarded in the dying minutes, after Dalot's speculative long-range shot was handled by Presnel Kimpembe. Following an agonising, interminable wait, Rashford stepped up and fired home one of the most joyous spot-kicks in the club's long history. It was a delirious finale to arguably the most thrilling European away since Sir Alex's retirement.
HOW TO VOTE
You can select which of the four matches above you want to see by voting in our Match Rewind live blog.
The vote closes at 16:00 BST on Tuesday and we’ll show the winning game in full, and for free, on the Official App and ManUtd.com at 19:00 BST, later that evening.
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