Robson heroics gave United an amazing victory
AS Manchester United look to lift the Europa League trophy in an empty stadium, Ron Atkinson remembered the night the Old
Trafford crowd helped humble Diego Maradona.
The Argentine genius was in Manchester in 1984 with a Barcelona side that held a 2-0 lead going into the second leg of the European Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-final clash.
The match was billed as Maradona v Bryan Robson – and was an emphatic victory for the England captain.
He scored twice in a 3-0 win in front of 58,000 United fans who made themselves heard from first whistle to last.
“To this day, people still talk about the atmosphere,” said Atkinson, United manager that night.
“They say they had never known Old Trafford to be like that.
“It was this shrill noise. I can’t ever remember being involved in a game that was played in that sort of atmosphere. Everyone got caught up in it.
“The crowd was massive for us that night.”
In the first leg, a Graeme Hogg own-goal and Juan Carlos Rojo’s last-gasp screamer left them with much to do.
“We were 2-0 down from the first leg and shouldn’t have been,” said Atkinson. “I thought we should have come back on level terms.
“I had seen Barcelona a few times and they didn’t really frighten me to death. We knew that if Maradona had one of his games, anything could happen, but I knew they had seen us and were worried about our ability at corners.” Midway through the first half, United were back in the tie – Hogg flicked on a Ray Wilkins corner and Robson flung himself full-length to head home.
Six minutes after the break the scores were level on aggregate – and Robson was the hero again. The keeper couldn’t hang on to Wilkins’ shot and Robson mopped up in front of the Stretford End.
Sixty seconds or so after Robson’s second, his team went ahead. Arthur Albiston’s cross picked out Norman Whiteside at the far post and he headed across goal where Frank Stapleton was lurking to slam the ball home for the winner.
AC Milan’s interest in Robson led to fans sending a petition to United, begging them not to sell him.
That was never going to happen, said Atkinson.