Peter Schmeichel’s final game for Manchester United was in the 1999 Champions League Final – and he couldn’t have chosen a better way to bow out.
Schmeichel won five Premier League titles during eight years at the club, but the Champions League had always been Sir Alex Ferguson’s biggest dream.
Manchester United reached a Champions League final for the first time at the end of the famous 1998-99 season, when they pitted to face Bayern Munich at Barcelona’s Camp Nou.
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Mario Basler’s free-kick put Bayern in front after only six minutes, and the Germans held the lead all the way to stoppage time.
The Red Devils kept going though, having been renowned for late goals in what became known as ‘Fergie Time’.
“The game wasn’t great, but when Alex Ferguson changed the system and made substitutions, we started to play a bit better, Bayern started to tire and we created opportunities,” Schmeichel exclusively tells FourFourTwo.
“At no point did we think we’d lost – I always thought there’d be a chance we could get back into it. We were trying to get to extra-time. We’d scored in injury time quite a few times that season, what was surprising was scoring the second goal in that same period!”
Schmeichel went forward himself for the corner that led to Manchester United’s equaliser, when Teddy Sheringham fired home from close range. Two minutes later, Sheringham flicked on another David Beckham corner, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer poked home an incredible winner.
“If there’s an ultimate way to win a game, that’s the way – although I wouldn’t recommend you trying it!” Schmeichel laughs.
“Over the years, it’s felt like everybody in the world saw that final, lived those three minutes and has a story to tell. That’s why that night is more alive to me than anything else I’ve ever done in my life.”
Schmeichel was speaking in association with Frank’s RedHot Sauce
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