George Best '68: A true genius at his peak
Today, adidas and Manchester United launch a new collaborative clothing range, celebrating arguably the club’s greatest-ever player: George Best.
That we are still talking about George almost 20 years after his tragically early death, and 56 years on from the zenith of his football career – the 1968 European Cup final victory over Benfica – seems astonishing, in one sense.
But when you speak to those whose eyes were dazzled by the Northern Irishman operating at the peak of his powers – as in the 1967/68 season that inspired this clothing range – you understand: the kind of magic created by such artistry, such personality, such genius… well, it simply does not fade in the same way as many of life’s other memories.
I’m too young to have seen Best play live. My generation came of age in the club’s second golden age, under Sir Alex Ferguson in the 1990s. But before the Treble – which towers over United’s other achievements, and with good reason – Wembley 1968 was regarded as the absolute pinnacle of United’s history.
And Best, at just 22 years of age, was the man who did more than any other United player to carry the Reds down the home straight.
Belfast born. Manchester made.
GalleryCheck out our adidas George Best collection. It's iconic.
Of course, the story is a lot broader than that. The 1967/68 season encompassed the 10th anniversary of the 1958 Munich Air Disaster, in which eight first-team players and three club staff members lost their lives, just hours after Matt Busby’s team had qualified for the European Cup (now Champions League) semi-final.
But, remarkably, within seven years, United were English champions again. In 1967, they repeated that feat. Months after the 10th anniversary, they beat Real Madrid to final reach the European Cup final for the very first time.
It was a remarkable resurrection, led principally by Busby and his assistant Jimmy Murphy. On the pitch, Ballon d’Or winners Denis Law and Sir Bobby Charlton were experienced spearheads. But Best was Busby’s prize firework. And, after making his debut in 1963, he helped an already talented team drench English football with a new kind of technicolour majesty.
Unpredictable, spontaneous and completely consumed by a desire to entertain and wow audiences, by 1967, Best was nothing short of a phenomenon – football’s one-man Beatles. Whether you supported United or not, you wanted to watch George.
Some might have been overwhelmed by that concept, and the notion that the trophy had to be delivered to Manchester, simply to honour those eight lost boys.
But Best was inspired by the pressure, by the stakes, delivering 32 goals across all competitions – 15 more than his previous best campaign (1965/66). This was doubly important because Denis Law, the Reds’ goal-gobbler supreme, was struggling with injury during the 1967/68 season. No United player would better Best’s final tally until the great Ruud van Nistelrooy in 2001/02.
When the big moments came, George never shied from risk, creativity and his own bold belief in finding new ways to excite and delight.
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Sir Michael Parkinson reminisces about his personal and professional relationship with George Best.
In Europe, Best hurdled waist-high Bosnian tackles in Sarajevo, before scoring the winner at Old Trafford to help United into the quarter-finals. There, he withstood the ice of Poland, as United clung to a 2-0 first-leg advantage over Gornik Zabrze.
In the semi-finals, he scored the only goal against Real Madrid at Old Trafford, rocketing a left-footed drive high into the net during one of the few moments he was not man-marked by a paranoid Los Blancos defence.
Come the heat of the Bernabeu, with a place in the final on the line, United found themselves down 3-1 (3-2 on aggregate) at half-time. David Sadler pulled one back with 15 remaining, before Best, set free down the right by Brian Kidd’s throw-in, nutmegged his opponent and centred for veteran defender Bill Foulkes to poke home the decisive goal.
The narrative was eerie, almost otherworldly: a Munich survivor finishing a chance laid on by the prince-genius of Busby’s redemption mission.
El Beatle
MUTV Original | The story of George Best and his nickname, earned after a stand-out showing against Benfica in 1966...
Best prepared for the game underneath the weight of his own expectations. Frustrations, too. United had narrowly lost the league title to Manchester City on the final day of the season (despite George’s 28 league goals), which only intensified the pressure on the Benfica date at Wembley.
The Belfast-born forward was desperate to emulate Law and Charlton by winning the Ballon d’Or, and he knew European Cup glory would likely deliver the accolade. He set himself the task not only of wrestling the match underneath his and United’s will, but scoring a hat-trick. The Irishman craved a coronation, not merely a conquest.
Benfica 1 United 4
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But when the key moment came, early in the first period of extra-time, Best was ready to seize his chance. Sent clear by a long high goal-kick that had been flicked on, he shaped to come inside on his right foot, before going the other way and completely throwing the Benfica goalkeeper, Jose Henrique. The net was open, and Best’s left foot sent it bobbling towards the line.
In later years, he admitted to dreams where the retreating defenders managed to clear the ball before it reached its target. But, in reality, Best scored and United never looked back. A third from Brian Kidd made the game safe, and Charlton added a fourth (his second) to add gloss to what was then unquestionably the greatest night in the club’s history.
It's still right up there, and seldom a week goes by when I don’t talk to a fellow United fan about Wembley ’68, or about the genius of George. It was his most glorious hour – even though he admitted feeling disappointed with his performance afterwards!
Those comments were another reminder of Best’s apartness from the rest of the football world. His own very real belief that he could actually reach footballing nirvana. Scoring the key goal in a European Cup final might have been enough for most. Or winning the Ballon d’Or, as he did in December of that year. But for the kind of talent and genius that echoes down the generations – beyond even its creator’s own life – only perfection would suffice.
The amazing thing about George Best was that, on the muddiest of pitches, against the most ferocious of tackles, he regularly achieved it. And never more often than in 1967/68 – the greatest season of a remarkable career.