1990/91: United put England back on the map

Manchester United FC 2-1 FC Barcelona
Feijenoord Stadium, Rotterdam

Manchester United FC celebrated the re-admission of English clubs to Europe. In their run to the final, they won all their away games – notably in France after Montpellier-Hérault SC had drawn 1-1 at Old Trafford and in Poland against CWKS Legia Warszawa, who had knocked out the defending champions, Sampdoria UC, in the quarter-finals.

Tough task
FC Barcelona had a tougher draw. After scraping past Dinamo Kiev 4-3 on aggregate in the quarter-finals, they beat Juventus FC 3-1 at home in the semi-final thanks to goals by Hristo Stoitchkov (2) and Jon Andoni Goikoetxea. In Turin, Andoni Zubizarreta was only beaten once, but received a yellow card which meant suspension from the final along with midfielder Guillermo Amor, sent off. Stoitchkov, injured in the league, also missed the final.

Pressure game pays off
A crowd of 44,000 packed into De Kuip for a tense final. Johan Cruyff’s side, with Michael Laudrup, Ronald Koeman and a platoon of Spanish internationals, struggled to cope with the English pressure-game and United took a 68th-minute lead when Mark Hughes, playing a ‘revenge match’ against his former club, touched home a Steve Bruce header after a free-kick. Seven minutes later, he crashed a shot past reserve keeper Carlos Busquets to make it 2-0. But Koeman scored from a free-kick ten minutes from time and, even though Fernando Muñoz ‘Nando’ was sent off, Barcelona created chance after chance in what Alex Ferguson described as "the worst ten minutes of my life".
He and United survived to lift the trophy.