Football’s Greatest Goals No.40
This week’s ‘Greatest Goal’ comes from a historic night when Manchester United secured their first championship trophy in 26 years.
The goal was scored by 19-year-old Ryan Giggs, who was only in his second full season in the United first team. He had a great season and it helped him win the PFA Young Player of the Year for the second successive season.
Manchester United had been involved in a two-horse race with Aston Villa for the inaugural Premier League title. This 3-1 win over Blackburn was part of a seven-match winning streak until the end of the season. Aston Villa lost their last three matches and United won the title by ten clear points.
The Blackburn match was shown live on Sky and played in a carnival atmosphere at Old Trafford. Their fans had waited for over a quarter of a century to see their team become champions again, and they were going to enjoy every minute of it!
Sir Matt Busby, the last manager to win the league championship was in the crowd that night and would have been very impressed with what he saw.
Kevin Gallacher shocked the 40,447 in the crowd by giving Blackburn the lead after only eight minutes. A little under a quarter of an hour later, the Welsh wonderkid was given his time to shine.
United won a free-kick 30 yards from goal. It was obvious that Ryan Giggs would be the United player who would take the kick.
A nervous-looking Stuart Ripley, Jason Wilcox, Kevin Gallacher and Graeme Le Saux stood in the Blackburn wall. Bobby Mimms, the Blackburn goalkeeper stood in the goalmouth waiting for the free-kick to be taken.
Just before the free-kick was taken, Stuart Ripley on the far right of the wall pointed over his shoulder at the right-hand post, indicating that was where he thought Giggs would hit it. The former Middlesbrough winger would be proved right a couple of seconds later.
Referee Jim Borrett blew his whistle once he was happy that the Blackburn wall was back ten yards. Giggs began a five-yard run up, slightly behind the ball and to the right. He hammered the ball with his soon to be legendary left foot, curling it around the wall narrowly past Stuart Ripley towards the top right-hand corner of the goal.
Bobby Mimms dived to his right to try and get to the ball but he stood no chance as it was well out of his reach. He landed in a heap on the floor as the ball crashed against the back of the net and a roar erupted around Old Trafford to celebrate Giggs’s goal.
The Sky cameras cut to Alex Ferguson who was stood in the Manchester United dugout (see picture at the top of the article). The Scot stood looking out on the pitch with a proud beam across his face, looking almost like a proud parent at his young child. It was a wonderful moment that encapsulated Ferguson’s joy at the start of his Manchester United legacy.
Paul Ince and Gary Pallister scored in the second half to give United all three points and their fans a night to remember.
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