When Best faced Swindon 60 years ago

The Class of 2024 travel to The County Ground for the 19:00 GMT kick-off, which is being screened live in the UK and Ireland by MUTV, in a repeat of the 1964 final.

Sixty years ago, George Best was the name on everybody's lips as the teenage sensation showed no signs of burnout, despite an exhausting schedule for club and country.

The Northern Irishman had already established himself in Matt Busby's first team but was desperate to play with his mates in the youth side, after we reached the final of the prestigious competition for the first time since 1957.

The two-legged final added to the fixture congestion for Best, who played the full match on Saturday 25 April, when United beat Nottingham Forest 3-1 in Division One, with Denis Law netting the 45th and 46th goals of his incredible campaign. Only 48 hours later, the 17-year-old winger turned out at The County Ground in front of a crowd of around 17,000 fans.

Swindon had their own highly rated talent, England youth star Don Rogers, who opened the scoring on the half-hour mark. Profiting from a long ball by Bruce Walker, he beat two defenders and keeper Jimmy Rimmer to earn the acclaim of the home support.

Despite Roger Brown doing a great marking job on our dangerous striker David Sadler, Town were indebted to the acrobatics of keeper Tony Hicks, who pulled off a string of saves. When Hicks was beaten, Albert Kinsey's effort came back off the bar and Best headed the rebound over. An equaliser did arrive, though, with 20 minutes remaining and it was Best who got it.

Peter McBride slipped the ball through to the wide man, who hooked it past Hicks into the far corner of the net.

There was no let up for Best, who appeared for Northern Ireland against Uruguay on Wednesday 29 April, earning his second cap. The hosts won 3-0 at Windsor Park with their new idol to the fore, having made his debut against Wales earlier in the month.

The Belfast Telegraph described him as "truly a brilliant player heading for greatness" after he tormented the tough-tackling South Americans, who had Abayuba Ibanez sent off.

And the date of the second leg of the Youth Cup final? Thursday 30 April! Four games in six days? No problem for Georgie, who said: "I would have played seven days a week if they'd let me." As a consequence, he was whisked away by his father following the international, rather than attending a banquet with the rest of the squad.

It was Sadler who emerged as the main man on the night as United won 4-1, 5-2 on aggregate, in a game played at Old Trafford.

The England youth international smashed a hat-trick in front of 25,563 spectators, and also had another strike disallowed. Bruce Walker replied for the Robins, with John Aston Jnr also on the scoresheet, towards the end.