Sir Jim's Nou Camp nostalgia
Sir Jim Ratcliffe says he will never forget the amazing experience of seeing Manchester United lift the Champions League trophy in 1999.
The club's new co-owner was at the Nou Camp to watch Sir Alex Ferguson's men complete the final leg of the Treble in the most dramatic of circumstances, as late goals from Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer famously overturned Bayern Munich's long-held lead.
Attending the game with his youngest son, it was a special moment for the Reds supporter, as United were crowned kings of Europe for the first time since 1968.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe | The Interview
Another chance to watch our unmissable Sir Jim Ratcliffe Q&A from February, exploring his plans on and off the pitch…
"Well, the atmosphere was, those last three [minutes]. I mean, United actually didn't play that well for the first 90 minutes, of course," he said.
"And, if you remember, they didn't have two of the top players. They didn't have Paul Scholes or Roy Keane playing in the final [as they were both suspended]. So that's a bit like, well it's interesting if you watch City playing without Kevin De Bruyne and [Erling] Haaland, they don't play the same level of football as they do with them, and it was a bit like that for United.
"But you take your hats off to United. They battled and battled and battled through that game. And, of course, it all came good in the last three minutes.
"That's one of the moments of my life," he admitted, during his exclusive interview with MUTV's Helen Evans. "Of course, I'll never forget [it]. That's an extraordinary moment. But that's what football's all about, isn't it?
"You don't expect it. And those those extraordinary moments you get from time to time that, you know, indelibly, are sort of ingrained in your mind. But I took my youngest son, who's a football fanatic, a Manchester United fanatic, and I think he was only 11."
The way the team snatched victory from the jaws of defeat showed one of the values precious to Sir Jim, the grit and determination required to achieve your goals.
"We have three words that we use in INEOS, which I think encapsulate INEOS really well," he added. "Which is: grit, rigour and humour. I think that a lot of that applies to football, you know, grit. You definitely need grit. You saw that in Barcelona in 1999. You know, they played to the last minute."Ratcliffe is bidding to bring the Reds back to the pinnacle of the game, after his investment in the club was made official this week.