Losing 3-1 in the first leg to Real Madrid Manchester United had put on a brave fightback against Real in the second leg. However it wasn't enough, with five minutes to go despite losing 6-5 on aggregate the away goal rule cruelly meant they had to score two goals to take the game to extra time.
The fans were down beat, the players had done all they could but it wasn't enough. However Alex Ferguson didn't appear concerned. He had an ace up his sleeve.
The fans were so absorbed they didn't even notice a tall hooded figure emerge ominously from the shaddows of the Utd bench. The tall stranger peeled back the hood revealing himself to be none other than Eric Cantona.
The crowd went wild as he trotted onto the pitch, a hug from the man he replaced ironically his replacement as captain- Roy Keane.
In an echo from the '99 Champions League Final with a minute to go Beckhams corner gifted the ball to the feet of the perfectly positioned Cantona. He side stepped the advancing keeper and struck the ball sweetly into the back of the net.
United needed one more goal to take the game to extra time. With seconds to go Real Madrid were in disbelief, their defence glued to the spot as Le King skipped in between them riding the last challenge before repaying Beckham feeding him at the right hand corner to take the game into extra time. United were back in the tie, Real looked like they had just been in a train wreck.
Determined to not be embarrassed they threw every last man bar the keeper forward to get the winning goal. United were on the back foot, Ronaldo looked certain to score his 4th. He only had to beat Barthez to tie up the game on away goals. The French keeper however had other plans. With a perfect tackle he stole the ball from the advancing beaver lookalike on the line and came out of the box to pass the ball to unleash Giggs on a blinding run the entire length of the pitch into the Madrid box. Surrounded by a wall of defenders he didn’t have anywhere to go. They were so preoccupied with Giggs run they missed Cantona ghost past them. Giggs fed Cantona the short ball through the legs of an exhausted defender as the Frenchman cooly swept the ball past the despairing keeper ripping the back of the net. Eric turned his back on the keeper, unable to flick up his collar on the current Utd shirt to the adulation of the fans for who it hadn’t been the same without.
The Real Madrid team were in tears on the floor. Ferguson’s army had just pulled off one of their greatest victories and were through to face old rivals Juventus in the semi-final. They had already seen Juve’ off twice earlier in the tournament and a final place had never looked more in reach since the epic Treble winning season of ’98-’99.
