Ron Atkinson, Robson and more reflect on United-Barcelona classics
The noise was so loud it felt like the pitch was shaking! Former Red Devils boss Ron Atkinson, his captain Bryan Robson and superfan Mick Hucknall reflect on United-Barcelona classics ahead of the European giants meeting again on Thursday
- Man United face Barcelona in the Europa League at the Nou Camp on Thursday
- There have been some enormous battles between the two giants of football
- Barcelona have most recently triumphed, comfortably beating United in 2019
Ron Atkinson remembers it as more of a screech than a roar. ‘I’ve never heard anything like it at any other football ground,’ Big Ron, now 83, told Sportsmail this week.
For Bryan Robson, his captain that night, it is still the best atmosphere he has experienced at Old Trafford.
‘The fans had even climbed the floodlights to get a view,’ says Robson. ‘I managed to score early on and the noise was so loud it felt like the pitch was shaking.’
Young substitute Mark Hughes, in whose career Manchester United and Barcelona would play such an important part, came on for the last 20 minutes to help defend a three-goal lead as Atkinson’s side won 3-2 on aggregate in the quarter-final of the UEFA Cup-Winners’ Cup.
‘That was my first experience of understanding what a crowd can do to get a team over the line,’ says Hughes. ‘After, we were in the dressing room for 15 minutes before Robbo could get in. They were still carrying him around the stadium.’
Former Manchester United manager Ron Atkinson recalled his side’s sensational win against Barcelona in 1984
Former Manchester United captain Bryan Robson shakes hands with Barcelona great Diego Maradona before the game
March 21, 1984. Arguably the greatest night of them all at Old Trafford as Barcelona’s first ever visit saw a Robson-inspired United turn the tie on its head to stun a team led by Diego Maradona who was being marked by a teenage Graeme Hogg.
United and Barcelona will renew a 40-year-old rivalry when they meet in a Europa League play-off at the Nou Camp tomorrow and Old Trafford next week. The prize at stake is a modest one by their standards, but that doesn’t matter when two of Europe’s grandest clubs collide.
‘It’s the history and legacy. There’s always an extra edge,’ says Hughes.
Robson was at it again seven years later when United won the Cup- Winners’ Cup by beating Barca 2-1 on a dank night in Rotterdam in the first season English clubs returned to Europe after the Heysel ban. ‘I consider that the best game I ever played for United,’ Robson says. However, Hughes grabbed the headlines for his two goals, with victory seen as a vindication following an unhappy spell in Catalonia.
The Welshman’s move was ill-fated from the start when he forgot his passport en route to meeting Barca vice-president Joan Gaspart in Geneva and crashed his car rushing home from the airport to get it.
The chapter on the 1991 final in Hughes’s autobiography is titled Revenge, but he is more philosophical now. ‘That wasn’t the case,’ he says. ‘I had a real opportunity and didn’t make the best use of it. Deep down, I didn’t want to leave United.’
Hughes acknowledges that Steve Bruce’s header was ‘two inches’ from crossing the line before he knocked the ball in to claim the first goal. ‘I saw Brucie a couple of weeks back and he’s still talking about it,’ laughs Hughes. ‘I was just doing my job.’
The second was more memorable as Hughes rounded Carles Busquets to lash it in from a tight angle. ‘Whenever people mention my goals, without fail that’s in the top three.’
Manchester United get revenge by winning the 1991 European Cup Winners Cup in Rotterdam
Sir Alex Ferguson praised the team hotel on the outskirts of Rotterdam, to which United had exclusive access. The post-match celebration there was talked about for many years afterwards.
‘Some of my memories of the knees-up are hazy,’ admits Gary Pallister. ‘I do recall Alex Ferguson coming round with a box of cigars which seemed surreal. I wondered if I’d been hallucinating. We were lucky not to fall off the open-top bus — the drinks had been flowing freely!’
Johan Cruyff had his revenge three years later when Barcelona knocked United out of the 1994 Champions League group stage, inflicting one of Ferguson’s most savage defeats.
Ferguson was hindered by the restriction on foreign players which meant he opted for young goalkeeper Gary Walsh over Peter Schmeichel at the Nou Camp.
Walsh feared the worst when Simply Red singer Mick Hucknall joined shooting practice on the eve of the game. ‘He put one past me,’ recalls Walsh. ‘It went straight through me. I was praying Alex hadn’t seen it. To this day, I’ve no idea why he played me instead of Peter Schmeichel.’
The 4-0 thrashing was so miserable that Hucknall declined Ferguson’s offer of a seat behind the dugout for the 1999 Champions League final against Munich at the Nou Camp. ‘I thought, ‘If I go again and we lose, it will be my fault!’,’ he said.
En route to glory in ’99, United played out two thrilling 3-3 draws with the Spaniards. ‘At Old Trafford it was like the Blitz,’ says Gary Neville. ‘I don’t know how we kept it down to three.’
It was nearly 10 years before the clubs met again in the 2008 Champions League semi-finals. Ferguson devised a plan to shackle Lionel Messi, and Paul Scholes’s stunning strike settled the tie. United went on to win the Champions League that year but Messi and Co were in their pomp when they beat Ferguson’s side in the 2009 and 2011 finals.
United’s humiliating defeat by Barcelona in 1994 gets off to a bizarre start as Simply Red lead singer Mick Hucknall takes part in shooting practice
Paul Scholes’s stunning strike gave United a win over Barcelona in the 2008 Champions League semi-finals
In the first game in Rome, Ferguson raised suspicions about their hotel. ‘It was a shambles. For meals, we were in a room with no light; the food was late and cold. On the morning of the game, two or three of our team were feeling seedy.’
Two years later, at Wembley, there were no complaints. ‘They gave us a lesson,’ says Neville, who had retired three months earlier. ‘If I hadn’t felt so bad for our lads, I would have enjoyed watching their skills.’
When they last met, in the 2019 Champions League quarter-finals, Barca ran out easy winners with Messi scoring twice. At least United won’t have to face him this time.
‘United’s form has vastly improved.’ says Hughes. ‘It will be very close.’
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