The night when Best became ‘El Beatle’
IT was a surreal night – and at the end of it George Best was launched into a global spotlight from which he never managed to escape.
The bizarre memories of Manchester United’s first trip to the fabled Estadio da Luz in Lisbon on March 9 1966 still burn brightly for Paddy Crerand.
The former United and Scotland midfielder, renowned for his sliderule passing, got the night off to an ominous start with a poor touch that saw him smash a mirror in the dressing room with a ball just before kick-off.
But there was to be no bad luck – thanks to Best.
The irrepressible Irishman ignored manager Matt Busby’s orders to keep it tight early on by scoring twice in the first 15 minutes of the quarter-final second leg, United went on to inflict Benfica’s first-ever home defeat in the European Cup by a sensational 5-1 margin and were then stunned when their opponents – including the legendary Eusebio – responded graciously by inviting them out to dinner. The next day Best bought himself a huge sombrero – manna from heaven for the photographers waiting for the team’s return at Heathrow – and found his picture plastered all over the front and back pages of the newspapers. He was christened ‘El Beatle’ and overnight became football’s first pop star player.
Crerand, now 78, recalls: “We had beaten them 3-2 at home in the first leg at Old Trafford and no-one gave us a chance in the second leg.
“They had never lost at home in Europe, they had players like Eusebio and had reached the European Cup final four times in the previous five years, winning it twice and ending Real Madrid’s dominance of the competition.
“Before the game had even started, I was kicking a ball against a wall in the large and luscious dressing room, I mis-kicked it and smashed a massive mirror to smithereens. You could hear a pin drop after that! Superstition says it’s seven years bad luck but it didn’t turn out that way – thanks to George. Matt had told us to keep it tight early on, frustrate their attempts to level the scores on aggregate and quieten the crowd.
“But George went daft. He was just sensational. He scored with a great header after about seven minutes, then added a typical solo goal and, with John Connelly scoring as well, we were 3-0 up after about 15 minutes!
“Matt couldn’t be angry with George for disobeying his orders at half-time – he was just overjoyed we were 3-0 up and said ‘just carry on what you’re doing!’
“It was an incredible night. God knows what I was doing, but I found myself in their six-yard box to score the fourth and Bobby Charlton got the fifth.
“Some of their fans invaded the pitch at the end. I remember losing a crucifix I wore round my neck as I tried to get off the pitch.
“But it was all good natured. And I couldn’t speak more highly of their players. They invited us for a bite to eat and drinks afterwards.
“If I had just been beaten 5-1 I would just want to get home to my bed and hide!”
The big disappointment was that United failed to go on and win the competition that season.
After defeating Benfica they lost 2-1 on aggregate in the semi-finals to Partizan Belgrade, who were then beaten in the final by Real Madrid.
United had to wait another couple of years to lift the trophy when, in extra time, Best tormented Benfica again in the final at Wembley.
Crerand, who will be working as a summariser for United’s club TV channel tonight when Jose Mourinho’s team takes the field in Lisbon, said: “We had a superior team in ’66 to the one that won the European Cup in ’68. “We were younger and most of us were at the peak of our careers. After beating Benfica we thought we were going to win it.
“But we suffered a couple of injuries to George and Denis Law and lost
in the semi-finals to Partizan Belgrade who simply kicked the s*** out of us.”
After we beat Benfica, we thought we’d win it