DAY BEST'S LIFE CHANGED FOREVER

20 years on from death of Irish legend, book recalls famous European game when Manchester United wizard came home as ‘El Beatle

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RELIVING the night when Manchester United thumped Benfica 5-1 in the European Cup quarterfinals and a Belfast boy became an international superstar, this extract is taken from ‘True Genius: George Best’ by Wayne Barton, published by Reach Sport and now available in paperback.

A STRANGE feeling encompassed the dressing room.

This was, undoubtedly, the biggest occasion the club had faced since Munich. Since they had faced Real Madrid in the 1957 semifinal. This was what Busby had strived for.

George himself was developing a reputation for coming in shortly before kickoff.

“He became so laid-back that Matt Busby would often be asking everyone where he was 15 minutes before the game,” Jimmy Rimmer says.

“He'd be in the lounge talking to anyone, he was that relaxed and confident in his ability to just get his kit and boots on and go out. He was never flustered”

The dressing room of a football team is a cauldron of superstition at the best of times.

“Some of the lads were kicking a ball about, whiling away the time in the dressing room,’ George remembered. ‘I saw it bounce across to Crerand and, like a man who could restrain his pent-up emotions no longer, he rapped it erringly into a full-length wall mirror that exploded into a thousand pieces. As soon as the slivers of glass stopped tinkling to the concrete.. silence. Until Bobby Charlton said quietly, ‘Now everyone just forget that ever happened.”

The team-talk given by Matt Busby has taken on a legend of its own. Almost all recollections include a variation of the following: that he instructed his players to be safe and keep everything tight for the first 20 minutes.

It seemed as if both teams were wary of the other. Benfica had seemingly decided to sit back and wear United out. It was a gamble doomed to fail.