The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 172 Reaching the Cup Winners Cup Final

"Everyone thought the favorite to win this half of the Cup Winners' Cup was defending champions Sampdoria, but the Italian giants were eliminated in the quarter-finals. Manchester United did not need to fight them, and could reach the final by defeating Legia Warsaw. This was hard for many journalists to accept, but football games are like this, there is no need to worry about so many shoulds and shouldn'ts."

--Inscription

The Red Devils reached the European Cup Winners' Cup final and finally attracted the attention of European football.

The Red Devils won two FA Cups and competed in the European Cup Winners' Cup during Atkinson's time. The classic battle of that year was when Robson united his teammates to complete the reversal against Barcelona, ​​eliminating the La Liga giants that still had Maradona. The Red Devils' best result was reaching the semi-finals and almost advancing to the final. After Atkinson's brief brilliance, the Red Devils were just a flash in the pan in the three major European cup events.

Now, it is the first time that the Red Devils have reached European competition under Ferguson's coaching, and they have made it to the final with a bang.

Many media believed that the Red Devils were a dark horse in reaching the final. They also knew that Ferguson was good at cup competitions and had created miracles when he was in Aberdeen. So before this game, many media and betting companies were optimistic about the Red Devils.

They may even be more confident than many Red Devils fans, even though their opponent is the powerful Barcelona.

Of all people, Ferguson himself was the most confident.

Ferguson was really bold and daring. He mobilized all the players in the first game of the European campaign. He said: "We are the Red Devils, a European super giant. Although we have not won the league championship to participate in the Champions League, we must seize the opportunity of this Cup Winners' Cup. The European Cup Winners' Cup has a special meaning, and we Red Devils should work hard to win the championship. When I led Aberdeen to fight in Europe, it was very similar to now. Everything was unfamiliar, but the opponent knew nothing about us."

Ferguson's words are the most accurate prediction of the Red Devils' journey. The Red Devils are indeed unfamiliar with the European arena, but their European opponents are also completely clueless about the Red Devils. When the two teams meet, it all depends on strength and luck.

The European Cup Winners' Cup is a single-elimination tournament for the champions of European football cups. After the UEFA draws lots to determine the opponents and divisions, the participating teams play two home and away games, and the winner of the total score advances to the next round, and so on until the final. In the final, the winner is determined in one game, and the winner wins the championship.

This single-elimination format is full of randomness, and any participating team may suffer an upset.

The Red Devils were initially seen as a newcomer, full of mystery, but not favored. Ferguson's team had good luck in the Cup Winners' Cup draw, and their first-round opponent was Hungarian Pekos Menkas. The Red Devils first easily defeated their opponent at home with a score of 2-0, and then won 1-0 in Hungary, successfully eliminating their opponent and advancing. In the second round, the Red Devils welcomed another British team, the Welsh Cup champion Wretherham, which was also a weak team. The Red Devils had an advantage in strength and their self-confidence far exceeded that of their opponents. The Red Devils took the advantage at the beginning of the game, and they kept suppressing the opponent's fierce attack throughout the game. The opponent was weak, so the defense was very difficult, and the offense was even more threatening. In the end, the Red Devils won 3-0 at home and 2-0 away in this round, winning 5 goals in two games and shutting out their opponents to advance.

After entering the quarterfinals, the Red Devils faced the French team Montpellier. This French Ligue 1 team made the Red Devils truly experience the difficulties of European competitions. The Red Devils played at home in the first round, and Ferguson fielded a full lineup for this encounter. The Red Devils' McClair scored in the first minute. He received a straight pass from his teammate in the frontcourt, easily cut into the penalty area, and cleverly shot a goal in the dead corner, helping the team get a dream start. But the Red Devils players did not enjoy themselves for long. The opponent took advantage of the negligence of the Red Devils team and launched a fierce attack in the 6th minute, causing chaos in the Red Devils' penalty area. The Red Devils defender Lee Martin unfortunately scored an own goal, allowing the opponent to equalize the score.

After the French team equalized the score, they regrouped and formed a defensive formation. The Red Devils continued to attack for more than 80 minutes, besieging the opponent's goal and trying all kinds of offensive methods, but they could not pry open the opponent's tortoise shell and could only watch the opponent retreat unscathed.

In the second round, the Red Devils went to France to play away. Facing the French team that was eager to attack at home, the Red Devils responded tit for tat and launched a fierce offensive, quickly suppressing the opponent's arrogance. The Red Devils quickly resolved the opponent's offensive and quickly suppressed the opponent's formation, forcing the opponent to shrink and retreat. The proactive Red Devils quickly took control of the situation and successfully attacked with blitzkrieg again. Blackmore scored a goal in the second minute of the opening. He received the pass from the Red Devils midfield and shot directly in the opponent's penalty area, hitting the ball into the dead corner. At this time, the opponent's entire defense and goalkeeper were confused, and they didn't even have time to react.

This was the third time that the Red Devils had scored a goal in a blitzkrieg in this season's European campaign. The sharpness of the Red Devils' attacking line was eye-catching. Afterwards, the Red Devils stopped making mistakes, effectively controlled the situation, firmly grasped the score advantage, and patiently wore down the opponent's offensive passion. When the second half began, the Red Devils launched another fast break, once again taking advantage of the opponent's relaxed attention, and forced the opponent to commit a foul in the penalty area two minutes after the start, giving the Red Devils a penalty kick.

Steve Bruce scored in one fell swoop, 2:0!

The Red Devils defeated Montpellier and advanced to the semi-finals.

The Red Devils faced Legia Warsaw in the semi-finals, which was also a battle of encounter. The Warsaw powerhouse eliminated the defending champion of the Cup Winners' Cup, the Italian giant Sampdoria, in the previous round, which was a super upset. The Sampdoria team was famous at that time, and its overall strength was far superior to its opponents. It was also highly favored before the game. Under the coaching of Boskov from Yugoslavia, Samp also became a strong team in the Italian league known as the Little World Cup. Although it is not as good as traditional giants such as Milan and Juventus, Samp won the Italian Cup in the 1988-89 season and then won the Cup Winners' Cup in the 1989-90 season. Its strength should not be underestimated.

Samp was very aggressive under Boskov's coaching. They recruited many stars and had a luxurious lineup. The main goalkeeper was Pagliuca, and the star defenders Viljoward and Katanitz formed a defensive triangle. The famous Brazilian star Cerezo was the midfield metronome, and the Italian star Pari, who had strong defensive interception ability, was Cerezo's partner. The fast horse Lombardo who was capable of playing on both sides and the practical Bonetti played as the wing forward; the forward combination was Vialli and Mancini. This Samp team was very strong. Although they failed to defend the European Cup Winners' Cup, they were very strong in the Serie A league, and finally beat the Milan duo, Juventus, Naples, Roma, Parma and other super strong teams, and won the Serie A championship for the first time in history.

In the European Championship, Sampdoria was the favorite. They had an absolute advantage in both games against Legia Warsaw, and created several times more scoring opportunities than their opponents. It can be said that they completely defeated their opponents. But Sampdoria had bad luck in these two games. They had the upper hand but could not score, and their siege was fruitless, and they even missed two empty-goal opportunities. In the end, because of their heavy pressure and the empty defense, they were ambushed by their opponents and were unfortunately eliminated.

In this way, the Red Devils were able to face the dark horse Legia Warsaw in the semi-finals. The two teams had never played against each other before, and the first round was played at Legia's home stadium. Ferguson attached great importance to this opponent. He even took a defensive stance at the beginning of the game, hoping to stabilize the defense before making long-term plans. Facts have proved that Legia Warsaw is indeed capable of eliminating Sampdoria. Their offense is very sharp, especially in the space in the ribs. The Red Devils' midfield defense is insufficient, and the corner area between the full-back and the central defender in the 4-man defense line was torn by the opponent. The city fell first and the score fell behind 0-1!

The Red Devils were behind in the score, but Ferguson did not lose his composure. He was very calm and directed the players to actively press forward and compete with the opponent in the midfield. The Red Devils intensified the pressing, and the full-backs began to press forward to strengthen the attack and continuously pass the ball into the penalty area. Not only that, Ferguson also asked the players to move forward more actively and invest more offensive firepower. Soon, the Red Devils' players played the team's characteristics of fast speed and many bottom routines, strengthened the wing attack, strengthened the point grabbing in the penalty area and the back insertion and supplementary shooting, and suppressed the opponent in their own half. After the Red Devils surrounded the opponent and attacked fiercely for about 30 minutes, striker McClair made an extremely wonderful shot in the opponent's penalty area to equalize the score for the team.

After tying the opponent, the Red Devils fought harder and harder, pushing forward from the flanks like a tide, while Legia retreated across the board and could only retreat to the penalty area to defend. Red Devils striker Mark Hughes received a pass from his teammate and gently swung his body in the penalty area, creating a little space before volleying hard, scoring the second goal for the Red Devils to overtake, and the Red Devils led 2-1!

The Red Devils reversed and overtook, but Ferguson did not intend to stop there, instead he asked the team to continue attacking to expand the score. In the final stage of the game, the Red Devils center back Bruce boldly inserted into the opponent's penalty area to play the role of center forward. He accurately received the cross from his teammate and scored another goal with a header. In the end, the Red Devils reversed the opponent 3:1 and won a crucial away victory.

Back at home, the Red Devils did not put too much effort into attacking, but they did not relax their vigilance. The game ended in a 1-1 draw. Lee Sharp got a chance to start for the Red Devils and performed very actively. He became a shining knife in the frontcourt of the Red Devils, helping the team score a goal and eventually helping the Red Devils eliminate their opponents and advance to the final.

In this way, the Red Devils advanced all the way to the European Cup Winners' Cup final.

At this time, the Red Devils attracted great attention from the European football world, and many media outlets published extensive reports to introduce this ancient but mysterious team.

The Red Devils, as a long-lost team, appeared in the European Cup Winners' Cup and did not attract much attention at first. But they kept charging, kept advancing, and made it to the final with full vigor. Reporters were surprised that Ferguson's team had such good luck, and they could not blame anyone for the early defeat of Sampdoria, which they had previously favored. Legia Warsaw, the team that eliminated Sampdoria, was not very strong, but it was still a strong team in Europe after all, and it was nothing to complain about that it lost to Ferguson.

While European fans were still beginning to get to know the Red Devils again, Ferguson had already set his sights on the final championship.

The Red Devils' opponent in the final was Barcelona from Spain, which was more favored by the media in Europe. That season, Barcelona was the famous "Dream Team", and later became known as the "Dream One". The head coach Cruyff was not only a famous player and a superstar, but also brought advanced football concepts and an excellent system. Cruyff led Barcelona to win the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1989, and won four consecutive La Liga titles starting from the 1990-91 season, beating another giant Real Madrid without any chance of fighting back.

Cruyff emphasized technique and rhythm, advocated individual breakthroughs and fine passing, and created a tacit passing and running tactic... He emphasized the integration of offense and defense, which was the implementation of the "all-out attack and defense" style of play in the club. Barcelona was full of superstars at the time, including Zubizarreta, Busquets, Ferrer, Nadal, Alexonko, Nando, Koeman, Juan Carlos, Michael Laudrup, Amor, Goyikochea, Bakero, Begiristain, Stoichkov, Salinas and other stars. They often played smooth cooperation, turning the game into a gorgeous performance for the whole team. The Spanish media at the time would proudly declare, "Cruyff represents gorgeous art and wonderful imagination."

In comparison, the Red Devils are too shabby. Ferguson's team has not appeared in the European arena for many years, and they have not really dominated the league. The aura of a giant has completely faded.