#15 BIG CUP, BIG VIEWING FIGURES – The Guardian
Oh to have been in Barcelona last night. Or Manchester. Or Munich (tee hee). What memories you would have this morning. Thanks to the wonder of television however, at least 15 million of us watched the match, thus ensuring that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's toe-poke takes its place in the national consciousness alongside umpteen miserable penalty shoot-out defeats.
Less likely to enter the pantheon is the sight of Micky Thomas pouring champagne over his own head, live on MUTV's frankly inspired programme 'We're Watching the Match'.
As detailed in yesterday's Fiver, 'We're Watching the Match' brought the drama of Barcelona to the living room by broadcasting a full-frame graphic of the score, and cutting to presenter Mark Pearson whenever anything interesting happened. Pearson was watching the match on ITV (you see where the name comes from now), in the company of 1968 European Cup-winner David Sadler, United legend Stuart Pearson (no relation), and the aforementioned Thomas.
According to Mark Pearson, things got "quite unbelievable" in those 'interesting' two minutes at the end of the game. Take it away Pears-o…
"It was unbelievable. The phone lines went crazy, it was a complete celebration for us. When Teddy scored we were expecting extra-time, but then Ole popped up and scored to win it." (Thus saving the world from another 30 minutes of that graphic.) "Micky poured champagne on his head, it was crazy."
But do you think you conveyed the drama of the match to those people who decided not to watch the match but chose instead to watch 'We're Watching the Match'?
"Absolutely, we always convey our passion for football, and Man Utd in particular, here at MUTV." Right. "It was unbelievable." You mentioned that. The highlight of your broadcasting career perhaps? "Absolutely."
#16 'Can football really be so brutal?' - The Guardian
German reaction to Manchester United's late, late show
Rheinische Post
"Can football really be so brutal? I cannot find the words.. I find it hard to describe." Steffen Effenberg was speechless after Bayern Munich's 2-1 defeat by Manchester United in the Champions League Final. So were his team-mates.
Up to the 90th minute, Bayern had done the job and their dream was almost a reality... Then came what had to come: Manchester United created the incomprehensible and turned it around in injury time. Within 102 seconds, Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer destroyed Bayern's dreams. Whilst the English rejoiced, the Bayern players were distraught and in tears.
Suddeutsche Zeitung
Franz Beckenbauer, usually so optimistic, said that the shock of this 1-2 defeat would not evaporate on Thursday: "The worst day," said Beckenbauer, "is the day after." It was written all over the players' faces, as if they had received an enormous blow: their trophy taken away.
"Football can be so cruel. I did not experience such a cruel defeat ever. The game was almost over, the Cup was almost ours."
Coach Ottmar Hitzfeld reflected on missed chances: " Had we not twice hit the post, we would have gone home as winners from the stadium. Manchester earned the victory exactly like Bayern. We can leave with our heads raised high from the stadium. But I am bitterly disappointed."
Bundesliga (TV Today)
Approximately 40,000 fans of Bayern were left speechless and shocked in the streets of Munich, after the defeat of their team in the last minute of the Champions League Final in Barcelona. With free beer and almost cloudless evening sky on Wednesday, the Bayern fans had watched the game on the big screen at the Olympic Stadium.
The fans witnessed Manchester United score two injury-time goals. "That was unfair", was the unanimous tenor. Numerous fans had tears in their eyes or struck their hands on their faces.
#17 United break through to a new dimension- Telegraph
By Paul Hayward
RED flares illuminated a clock that showed 90 minutes - the nominal end of the game. United's hearts were about to break. In time that existed only in some alternative cosmic dimension, Manchester United went from 1-0 down to winning the European Cup. Lothar Matthäus was wrong. Twenty-two men run around for 90 minutes and then the English win.
Bayern Munich were in the mood to give Manchester United trouble last night but not a treble. Sir Matt Busby, who would have been 90 yesterday, must have twitched a little in his grave. All we saw through the smoke and noise and chaos was Teddy Sheringham's boot swinging a desperately poked ball into the net. Wonderful. Extra time and maybe penalties. But then Ole Gunnar Solskjaer dragged another goal from a game that was chugging deliriously towards another 30-minute ordeal. The synopsis is simple. This was the greatest comeback in European football, possibly the history of the game. League, FA Cup and now European Champions' Cup - United have exhausted and thrilled us in them all.
A season that has been raining eulogies threatened to turn into elegies for all but the final script-defying seconds. United had got close to reviving the spirit of 1968 but still not close enough. An apparently routine assignment in their own domestic cup seemed to stand between Bayern and Germany's own first treble. Alex Ferguson, who insists he will retire at 60, was running out of chances. Cut to the 91st minute: Bayern's gallant players are scattered across the turf in impossible and abject despair.
Bayern's sudden, matador strike at a time when most people back in Britain were probably still plonking tea mugs on coasters raised the dread thought that English teams are destined to make grievous errors against the Germans. The foul by Ronny Johnsen on Carsten Jancker was the product of a desperate attempt to recover position. Then came Mario Basler's free kick, which penetrated a gap in the United wall punched open by clever movements from Jancker and Marcus Babbel, who pulled Jaap Stam and Jesper Blomqvist away.
The hole-in-the-wall gang had struck. Penalty shoot-outs are normally the problem, but this time it was free kicks. Remember Turin, the United players must have whispered to themselves. But there was a sense that, unlike Juventus, this Bayern Munich side would be singularly unwilling to yield. They did finally, but so late in a magnificent day.
Barcelona is a city so sensuously stuffed with art that only a tense, painstakingly fought match could have done justice to the setting. The locals had shown their visitors how to celebrate the beautiful on Monday with a teeming pageant to mark Barca's successful defence of their league title. Hot, rowdy and excitable, but with its usual understated nobility, this repository of Catalan culture invited two treble-chasing teams into the Nou Camp to experience the centrifugal thrill of playing in the continent's finest footballing arena.
Just north of the Olympic village, where such a good time was had by all in 1992, and half an hour's walk from Gaudi's unfinished master work, the Sagrada Familia, the Nou Camp has the hum and pull of a great architectural treasure. It is probably the only European stadium capable of absorbing such tidal crashes of passion and noise. Last night, it was like one of those white-knuckle rides a large part of you just wants to get off. With its mountainously steep stands, there is always the sensation of falling into the crucible below, where, last night, two sets of scurrying ant-like men had to suppress all thought of how much was at stake and stick to the simple business of winning a ball game.
United are the Esperanto of football supporting. The club have done such a fine job of marketing the United mystique that there were banners here from Croatia, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Malta and Australia. "Man United - The Religion," said one. For religion read "brand". Allegiance to United is a brilliantly manufactured obsession. It is love on the net, marriage by club magazine. Not that there is anything wrong with that. The world is full of such electronic communities. United are the game's favourite international pen pals. Last night, they needed all the support they could get.
When an opening ceremony reminiscent of a mini Super Bowl ended, there was little initially to encourage the belief that all those transcontinental airfares had been money well spent. Without Roy Keane and Paul Scholes, Ferguson fielded an experimental United midfield in one of the most daring acts of his 13-year Old Trafford career. Both his most formidable wide players were moved from their usual positions. David Beckham was transferred to the centre of midfield and Ryan Giggs switched to the right flank to accommodate Blomqvist on the left. The most likely explanation is that Ferguson felt safer with Johnsen alongside Stam in defence than he would have done with David May. Hence the need for Beckham to bolster a central midfield staffed by a reservist in Nicky Butt.
In the first half, both sides of Ferguson's normally wide-flowing team were emasculated. Using his left foot as he galloped down the right-hand side, Giggs was carried inside rather than outside his marker. On the opposite wing, Blomqvist lacked the requisite gas to go past Babbel. Thus play became congested in the centre of the pitch where Bayern's wing-backs acted as the string tying Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole into a sack created by their three central defenders. Not good. For once there was no howling dervish from United, no unstoppable force ripping into a foreign defence, just uncertain, crab-like incursions that lacked the usual fluency and conviction.
The experiment was abandoned two-thirds of the way into the game. Off came Blomqvist, on came Sheringham. Giggs went left and Beckham right while Cole, Yorke and Sheringham all hunted for that precious equalising goal. But Bayern still held their shape and nerve: a smothering grey blanket laid expertly across the pitch. By now, the suffering of United's supporters had lasted well over an hour. In Europe, some would say, it had lasted 31 years.
Bayern Munich may never get over the trauma of what happened to them in a handful of seconds. None of us in the Nou Camp will ever forget we were there.
#18 Solskjaer makes Treble come true - Telegraph
By Henry Winter
THIS magnificent Manchester United side simply refuse to give up. Yesterday, when all seemed lost, when the German jinx again appeared to hold sway over an English side, United scored twice in the final seconds through Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to lift the European Cup on the day that marked Sir Matt Busby's 90th birthday. Amazing.
United have this alarming habit of making life difficult for themselves in Europe. Scarcely five minutes had elapsed when the champions of England conceded the sloppiest of goals, the devastating early blow emanating from the confusion between Ronny Johnsen and Jaap Stam. Communication and positional sense, the staples of central defensive pairings, appeared minimal as Carsten Jancker, Bayern's burly striker, muscled down the inside-left channel.
The area appeared Stam's zone of responsibility but there was Johnsen diving in and fouling Jancker. Bayern eyed up the situation, 20 yards and with promise writ large. United realised the danger and quickly gathered in a wall. Germans, though, are past masters at opening walls through run or tug.
Jancker and Markus Babbel made the key moves. Jancker was first to peel away, taking Stam chasing after him. Then Babbel went, nipping behind the wall itself and applying a slight tug to Nicky Butt's shirt on the way. The cover was blown, the hole opened.
Basler, having bided his time, stepped up and sent his free-kick curling into the space vacated by Babbel and Jancker. Peter Schmeichel, captain on his last appearance for United, stood helpless as the ball swerved in to his left, sending the Germans into paroxysms of delight.
A brutal lesson unlearned, United still struggled defensively. Still the mix-ups came, most notably between Schmeichel and Johnsen, although Bayern failed to press home an unexpected advantage.
Lacking Roy Keane's midfield drive and leadership, United desperately sought for one of their rank to stand up and lift them from this mess of their own making.
David Beckham picked up the gauntlet. As United's faithful ran through their song-book, Beckham ran through his passing repertoire. This was his stage, his hour but the experienced Germans refused to buckle.
The strivings of England's finest midfielder were watched and assessed by the great and the good of the global game, Pele even taking time out to describe Beckham as one of the world's great players just behind Rivaldo and Zinedine Zidane.
Of Alex Ferguson's decision to hand Beckham the central play-making role, Brazil's most famous son said: "With a player like David Beckham, you must give him his freedom." Now it was United who needed liberating from of Bayern's cold clutch.
Beneath a sea of banners, one of them proclaiming "Spirit of 68. Class of 99", Beckham kept trying to release a low-key Jesper Blomqvist down the left, Ryan Giggs down the right and Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole through the middle. One clever ball saw Yorke flicking goalwards only for Bayern's excellent goalkeeper, Oliver Kahn, to punch clear.
Beckham's first-half promise foundered on the rock of German determination and organisation. Whenever Beckham gained possession, Jens Jeremies powered in, making control and composure even more crucial assets.
Bayern's tactics were so clever, so efficient. When Schmeichel had the ball, only one grey-shirted striker stayed up while the other two fanned towards the flanks, filling the space that the English love to exploit.
Giggs looked ill at ease on the right, adding to Bayern's sense of control. When United did break through, Kahn was there to quell the danger. One quickfire link-up between Yorke and Cole did release Giggs, ripping United's supporters from their seats in fevered anticipation. Yet there was Kahn, so calm and canny, advancing to seize the ball. As United themselves have done across Europe this extraordinary season, Bayern threatened on the break.
After 28 minutes, Lothar Matthäus showed his enduring class, taking the ball away from the hard-tackling Jeremies and sweeping forward, brimming with intent.
Having driven deep into United's half, Matthäus slipped the ball to the ungainly but effective Jancker, who found Alexander Zickler. The ensuing shot scarcely worried Schmeichel, sliding apologetically into the hoardings, but United had again been reminded of the need to re-gather when their own attacks broke down. At least the half finished on a promising note with Irwin and Cole combining to create a header for Giggs, which proved too weak to alarm Kahn.
The second half beat to the same rhythm: United pressuring and Bayern parrying. Jancker sent Schmeichel into a slithering save and then Babbel misjudged a header with United's goal gaping. Giggs fashioned chances for Yorke, whose header was blocked, and then Blomqvist, who could not keep his shot down. As the clock ticked ever louder, urgent action became essential.
Sheringham came off the bench for Blomqvist, yet it was Bayern who threatened, Jancker turning the ball into the path of Stefan Effenberg, whose attempted lob was pushed over by Schmeichel. Then Mehmet Scholl chipped Schmeichel but the ball rebounded into the 'keeper's arms.
But then a miracle. Beckham's corner swung over and there was Schmeichel, up from the back, pressuring Bayern's proud defence. Yorke headed back, Giggs shot in and there was Sheringham playing the poacher. In added time, Beckham swung in another corner, Sheringham headed on and there was Solskjer to hook the ball in. The Treble was complete. Amazing.
Manchester Utd: Schmeichel; G Neville, Stam, Johnsen, Irwin; Giggs, Beckham, Butt, Blomqvist (Sheringham 66); Yorke, Cole (Solksjaer 80). Subs: Van Der Gouw (g), May, P Neville, Brown, Greening.
Bayern Munich: Kahn; Matthäus (Fink 80); Linke, Kuffour; Babbel, Effenberg, Jeremies, Tarnat; Basler (Salihamidzic 89), Jancker, Zickler (Scholl 70). Subs: Dreher (g), Helmer, Strunz, Daei. Booked: Effenberg.
Referee: P Collina (Italy).
#19 Wondrous finish covers up tactical frailties – Telegraph
By David Miller
NEVER in the history of the game, it can be safely said without exaggeration, has a cup final been turned on its head so late, not even the Matthews Final. One's heart bleeds for Bayern, who had dominated most of the 90 minutes and had hit post and bar in the last 10. Much as there is joy for Manchester, the cruelty inflicted on Bayern, straining to regain the trophy after 23 years, was something no team should be asked to bear.
It took little time for Bayern to show United that what might have worked against Newcastle on Saturday at Wembley would not at the Nou Camp.
Additionally, Alex Ferguson's tactical change played into the hands of Bayern. The idea of having David Beckham as the replacement for Roy Keane in central midfield did not look clever.
Prior to the match, it had seemed that United's formation, with Beckham and Ryan Giggs on the flanks, was going to cause problems for the Germans. Instead, it was Bayern's 1-2-4-3 formation which created difficulties for United.
It had always seemed likely that Bayern's central midfield of Stefan Effenberg and Jens Jeremies might prove overpowering. In the event, Beckham was unable to shake off the attentions of the dogged Jeremies, and although Nicky Butt was successfully restraining Effenberg, the balance of midfield control in the first half lay with Bayern.
With Michael Tarnat not allowing Giggs to escape on his unaccustomed right flank, and Jesper Blomqvist making no headway against Marcus Babbel, Bayern's defence was largely secure. Try as they might, Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole could not find a way past the Linke-Matthaus-Kuffour trio.
Ferguson's choice of Beckham to replace Keane affected so many other aspects of the game in Bayern's favour. Giggs is nowhere near as dangerous on the right; he does not have a working relationship with Beckham as a close-hand midfield partner; and by moving inside United lost Beckham's most telling weapon, the swerving crosses that feed the rest of the front line. The consequence was that Bayern were able to be relatively relaxed and confident while United, once they had gone behind to Mario Basler's early free-kick, were all too clearly a side struggling to get back into the match. United's moves ground to a halt around the edge of Bayern's penalty area.
Bayern had soon shown their attacking hand: the usual high diagonal passes played to Carsten Jancker as he moved to the flank, supported by crosses from either Basler on the right or Tarnat or Alex Zickler from the left in search of Jancker's head. It was just such a ball played forward by Tarnat that had seen Jancker pounding into the penalty area on the left under pressure from Ronny Johnsen. Jancker's power, such a threat, caused Johnsen and Jaap Stam constant anxiety. He was the central point of almost every Bayern attack, big, strong, sometimes clumsy, but his unqenchable willpower constantly rose above his technical shortcomings.
Bayern must have been both surprised and delighted that United came out for the second half showing no adjustment, and still with Giggs trying to adapt to his clearly uncomfortable situation on the right flank. He did have one left-footed cross to which Blomqvist lunged on the edge of the six-yard area, the shot going over the bar, but United could not find the kind of rhythm to lift their game and their prospects.
Hitzfeld may well have wondered why Ferguson did not attempt to regain the team's normal, natural shape, returning Beckham and Giggs to their regular flanks, and, so, pushing Gary Neville forward to midfield and bringing on Wes Brown at full-back. Bayern were showing the values of familiarity, knowing exactly what each was about to do.
With an hour gone something new was needed to break the pattern of Bayern's control, their game now having that comfortable feel of a team who sense their lead cannot be taken away from them. With just under 25 minutes remaining, Teddy Sheringham appeared in place of Blomqvist. Could Bayern be frightened out of their calm grip on the game?
Steadily, almost confidently, Bayern proceeded towards a triumph that had become almost touchable and it was sympathy that any independent viewer felt for United as they so narrowly avoided going three down. Then the 90-second avalanche struck Bayern as United threw their substitutes headlong at the Germans in agonised desperation. How extraordinary that it should work in such a way.
#20 Beckham factor is difference between defeat and victory – THE TIMES
Matt Dickinson on the player who made light of his heavy burden
DAVID BECKHAM was given so many responsibilities last night that they might as well complete the set this lunchtime and ask him to pilot Concorde home. After this triumph of the human spirit, the boy from Leytonstone would probably shrug his shoulders, grab the joystick and take Manchester United on another flight of fantasy.
United's matchwinner may have been Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, but it was Beckham who ensured that his team approached the final, mad minutes with an air of hope rather than resignation. Beckham has played better games, but never has he displayed such indomitable will.
Apart from taking the corners and free kicks, governing a congested midfield, overlapping Giggs on the right flank where possible and prompting most of United's attacks - all of it while outnumbered by some of the most dogged competitors even Germany has produced - Beckham must have wondered if he should disappear early to brew up the half-time tea.
Such was the ridiculous scale of his task for much of this game that United found themselves overrun in the heart of the pitch where games are won and lost. That it was Lothar Matthäus who was spoiling the fun, as he appears to have been doing for Englishmen for all of his 38 years, was even more frustrating and, at times, it appeared that Beckham would suffocate. Where opportunities should have been opening, doors were slammed in his face. Most footballers would have turned away, but Beckham, as he and the rest of his team-mates have been taught by Alex Ferguson, the United manager, did not know when to stop.
The lack of numbers in midfield was a familiar experience for United, but one they had overcome in the past. In the semi-final first leg against Juventus, they had become preoccupied with Zidane and, as a consequence, had diluted their own attacking verve. This time, it was the roving Effenberg who dominated their thoughts, with Nicky Butt given the shackling job. The result was that Beckham was faced with a brick wall to penetrate and it was only in those final moments, when reinforcements had arrived, that the strength was there to topple it.
There were those who had fretted even before kick-off that pitching Beckham into central midfield would prove to be less a blessing than a curse, but they did not include Pelé. "The thing with a player like Beckham," the Brazilian mused, "is that you must let him free." Last night he ran with abandon, but too many of his colleagues appeared to be under lock and key.
It was a potentially crushing responsibility for Beckham, but he soldiered on manfully against the odds. On only one occasion this season had the 24-year-old trod the middle ground for club or country from the start and that was in Luxembourg, which hardly counts. He had switched to the middle on Saturday in the FA Cup Final, but, on that occasion, Gary Speed, of Newcastle United, was his adversary. Matthäus, despite having the mobility of an old tank, would prove a far tougher adversary.
The pivotal importance of Beckham was emphasised by one spread betting company's offer of a Beckham Factor. Points were amassed for everything from shots on target to shots of Posh Spice on television, but it was mileage that he clocked up in staggering fashion.
He played with an astonishing urgency throughout, which is more than can be said for all his team-mates. Yorke, in particular, appeared to have allowed his mind to drift at times back to West Indies beaches, and he treated possession like loose pesetas.
That was an accusation that could never be levelled at Beckham, who is approaching 60 games this season but who played as if he could carry on running right through his summer holidays. That was despite the tweak in a thigh muscle that had necessitated a late fitness test. With Keane and Scholes absent through suspension, it would presumably have taken amputation to have stopped Beckham from appearing.
Having won the final, one can imagine it being the first of several for Beckham and his colleagues. For Peter Schmeichel, though, this was the end of the line and it was a farewell that he cannot have dreamt of as he all but finished the match in the Bayern penalty area. Flat-footed for Basler's free kick that had given Bayern an early lead, he made up for it by contributing to United's attacks, appearing at the other end of the field as Beckham lined up his sights from the corner flag.
He will return to Cheshire today when the removal men will start to pack his possessions. Pickfords will have to take special care of a European Cup winning-medal that he thought had slipped from his grasp
#21 Pele offers final accolade – THE TIMES
FROM ROB HUGHES
If David Beckham needed any further evidence, on top of his medals won in the field, that his annus horribilis is finally over, then he should listen to Pelé. In Barcelona yesterday, before the European Cup final, the Brazilian, who knows just a little bit about the pleasures and the pressures of football, selected Beckham as "one of the very great players of this year".
Beckham intrigues him. Pelé saw the petulant kick by Beckham that damaged England's prospects of advancing further in the World Cup last summer. Since then, he has watched Manchester United in the flesh five times and seen many moments on video that convince him that Beckham has not only recovered manfully from the criticism levelled at him then, but has developed his game to an outstanding level.
"From my point of view, he is a very important player for the team," Pelé said. "He works very hard, he has good vision, good movement and good delivery."
Beckham should have been at the lunch table with us. He would have heard the old maestro lament that players of today risk losing their identity, losing the rapport that he enjoyed between performer and audience. He was referring to players shifting their ground, losing the thread of continuity and the basis of loyalty and support from their admirers. Yet he singled out Beckham from this dehumanising process and added that the youth policy at Manchester United is something that he admires.
"But you must give him freedom," Pelé said. "Some coaches might try to put him in one position, I would not. I would organise the team and let him free. He knows what to do, where to go to make things happen
#22 United's year of beating the clock – THE TIMES
IT WAS obvious that Manchester United would win the treble with some eleventh-hour dramatics last night - right from the kick-off this season, they have been pulling points and cup-ties out of the fire. Bill Edgar and Gary Jacob recall those squeaks and scrapes.
· August 15: On the opening day of the FA Carling Premiership, David Beckham shrugs off a summer of national criticism to score last-minute equaliser from a free kick against Leicester City.
· January 24: Two goals in the last three minutes from Dwight Yorke and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer give United a 2-1 win at home to Liverpool in an FA Cup fourth-round tie.
· January 31: With the Premiership title race hotting up, Yorke gives United victory at Charlton in the 89th minute.
· March 17: Internazionale become United's first Italian victims in European competition after their quarter-final second leg in Milan ends 1-1, Scholes equalising in the 88th minute.
· April 7: Trailing 1-0 in the home leg of their European Cup semi-final with Juventus, a last-minute goal from Ryan Giggs keeps United's assault on three fronts going.
· April 14: United's struggling ten men face defeat in their FA Cup semi-final replay against Arsenal until Peter Schemichel saves Dennis Bergkamp's last-minute penalty and Ryan Giggs's goal of the season in extra time earns a 2-1 victory.
· April 21: United recover from 2-0 down in Turin to win 3-2 against Juventus through goals from Roy Keane, Yorke and Andy Cole.
· May 16: United come from a goal down at home to beat Tottenham Hotspur and clinch the championship.
· May 22: United complete their third Double in six seasons by beating Newcastle United in the FA Cup Final.
· May 26: An historic first treble is claimed in injury time in the European Cup final by Teddy Sheringham and Solskjaer.
#24 Wilderness years put United in the shade – THE TIMES
Richard Whitehead provides a fascinating insight into the ups and downs of clubs in Europe
WHEN Manchester United ended their 26-year wait to win the championship in 1993, Alex Ferguson permitted himself no more than a few hours to glory in the present. If his players retained their hunger, he said, there was no limit to what they could achieve. Six years later, we know that he succeeded in ensuring that they remained ravenous.
Now that United's domestic dynasty is established, Ferguson can turn his attentions to the Continent and the task of achieving something that has so far defeated the politicians - a United Europe. However, just how far they have to go to join the real elite is revealed today in The Best European Table in the World . . . Ever!
The table - a companion to The Best League Table in the World Ever! (an exhaustive survey of English clubs at home and in Europe, published in The Times at Christmas) - is our way of marking the end of the era of three European competitions by analysing who have been the most successful clubs.
Amid the euphoria and the hangovers recrimination in Barcelona this morning, it will make sobering reading for Ferguson and the United board. Having four different kits and selling David Beckham duvet covers to "supporters" who have never seen the team play may make for an impressive balance sheet, but it is not a substitute for years of consistent success on the field.
Even the victory in the Nou Camp last night - and the 200 points gained from it - has not been enough to push United into the top ten achievers. It will take years of winning trophies and appearing in finals to haul back the lead established during their European wilderness years from 1969 to 1991.
The first task in compiling the table was to agree on a points system that would reflect the importance of the three competitions. The European Cup has always been the most coveted so it was obvious to award more points for that and, furthermore, to recognise that the trophy has become more difficult to win since the advent of the Champions' League in 1991-92. Below that, the relative merits of the Cup Winners' and Uefa Cups have long been debated, but we felt that it would be unfair to distinguish between the two.
It soon became obvious that we would not be able to include every team that had progressed to the quarterfinals of the tournaments so it was decided to limit the qualifiers to the top fifty. As a result, there are one or two notable absentees - St Etienne, Dynamo Moscow, Werder Bremen and Dynamo Zagreb, for example, while Aston Villa earned the dubious distinction of being the only European Cup winners not to make the top fifty.
The identity of our champions was not exactly a surprise - Real Madrid's towering achievement of winning the first five European Cups with the fabled team of Puskas and Di Stefano has stood them in good stead, along with the sensible precaution of winning it again last year.
Popular predictions for second place probably would have included one of the other multiple winners of the European Cup - Liverpool, Bayern Munich or Ajax - but Juventus showed the advantage of earning points from the other two competitions to secure the position.
Bayern eased into third place thanks to their exertions last night, leaving Barcelona, with only one European Cup but six other trophies, fourth. Next came AC Milan and Internazionale.
Liverpool would have been higher than ninth, but for the ban that followed their defeat in the 1985 European Cup final and recent failures. Nevertheless, and no doubt to their quiet satisfaction and United's chagrin this morning, they remain comfortably England's leading team. Fergie had better sharpen his appetite
#25 Tyldesley talks an impressive game – THE TIMES
David Powell says that ITV's coverage of the match was enlivened by the commentary team
Half an hour before kick-off, Jeff Farmer, ITV's executive producer, showed no nervousness in his voice, but the need to put on an entertaining performance was undeniable. "From a professional point of view, this is what we have been involved in the Champions' League for," Farmer said. "It is why we have signed an expensive new contract for another four years, beginning next year, and they do not come much bigger than this." ITV could not afford to make a hash of it.
"We have been waiting seven years for this night, since we started covering the Champions' League from its inception in 1992-93, and we are waiting for the match as eagerly as the most avid Manchester United fan," Farmer continued. "We all become Manchester United fans tonight." By the climax of the evening, the evidence was in place. You could not see the red flags in the commentary box, but you knew they were there.
The outpouring began three minutes from time. Until then, the bias had been gentle. Now everything changed. "Of all the people you wanted that chance to fall to, Dwight Yorke was that man," Clive Tyldesley, the match commentator said, by way of getting the ball rolling. "If they can equalise, I think they will go on to win this," Ron Atkinson responded. "Oh yeah?" the pessimists among us thought.
Anxiety grew. "We are in the last of the 90 minutes," Tyldesley said. "What we need now is the fourth official to hold the board up with about 20 on it." We got three. Immediately Tyldesley responded: "Can Manchester United score? They always score." Tyldesley should know. He has statistics at his disposal that would make John Motson jealous. More of that in a moment.
As we were saying. Or rather, as Tyldesley was saying: "They always score." As he said it, the ball went for a corner with 90 minutes up on the clock in the corner of the screen. Beckham's corner, to Yorke, to Giggs, to Sheringham. Goal. Then, almost before Tyldesley could say golden goal, Solskjaer had scored the winner.
On the sidelines, Lothar Matthäus, having been substituted with Bayern Munich holding one hand on the cup, looked stunned. "What is Matthäus thinking?" Tyldesley asked. "With the greatest of respect, who cares?"
Tyldesley and Atkinson celebrated with every United jig as the players took their applause around the pitch. A camera cut to a Bayern fan, whose face told the story. "Five minutes before the end of the game, that was the face of a Manchester United fan," Tyldesley noted. And how right he was.
One could forgive Tyldesley if, occasionally, he got bogged down in minutiae, such as: "The Bayern Munich coach is bidding to become only the second man to win the trophy with two clubs . . . there has only been one game this season in which Manchester United have failed to score . . . Solskjaer has got 17 goals this season, he would be the leading scorer at 14 Premiership clubs."
Yet detailed research can be more the just a crutch for a commentator. It can help illuminate the most dramatic of moments. "Not everybody is smiling," Tyldesley said. "It is going to cost the bookmakers about £10 million. They were 80-1 for the treble at the start of the season."
Somewhere between England's World Cup defeat by Argentina and last night, football lost some eight million viewers. The average viewing figure for that England game on ITV was 23.7 million, more than double the 9.7 million who saw the FA Cup Final on ITV last Saturday.
"This is the biggest club game in the history of British football and we are hoping for 15 million plus, peaking somewhere between 15 and 18 million," Farmer had said. "We have got our first team out with Clive Tyldesley and Ron Atkinson, Bob Wilson, Terry Venables and Ruud Gullit." Long may Tyldesley be playing at centre forward