I had three touches against Liverpool but my Manchester United goal was better than beating them 5-0

The idea of Manchester United winning the treble was almost over before it had even taken hold. It was January in 1999 and inside Old Trafford it was 8,000 Liverpool fans making all the noise.. Michael Owen’s third-minute header had Gerard Houllier’s team on course for an FA Cup fourth-round win, leaving United to focus on a tense title race and their ongoing efforts to conquer Europe. Just two minutes were left to play.. At this stage of the season. nobody was really talking about the treble. United had won just five of their last 14 games in all competitions and in the third round of the cup, they had been 1-0 down to Middlesbrough with 22 minutes to play before winning 3-1.. Old Trafford wasn’t on the edge of its seat because the treble dream was dying. The fans were going through the mill because of the prospect of Liverpool winning on enemy territory in a knockout game. But then, everything changed.. Alex Ferguson, pre-Knighthood, had thrown on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to play alongside Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole, moving to three at the back. As United piled the pressure on, Yorke equalised after 88 minutes and Solskjaer won it just over a minute into injury time. At the time, little did anybody realise just how important that win – and the manner of it – would turn out to be.. ***. “The season really started with the Liverpool game,” said Gary Neville. Looking back, it is the moment the dream of winning the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League began to crystalise. It is a valuable barometer not just for surviving in the cup, but for showing that ability to rescue games from almost impossible situations that would prove so invaluable as the season progressed.. The start was a nightmare, however. Owen rising unmarked in front of the Stretford End to head in Vegard Heggem’s cross. On the touchline, Ferguson was furious that a 5ft 6ins striker would be allowed a free header so early in such a big game.. Michael Owen gives Liverpool the lead at Old Trafford in January 1999 (Image: Daily Mirror). Liverpool had their chances on the break but United bean to turn the screw. Roy Keane hit the post twice, had one shot deflected narrowly wide and then a young Jamie Carragher blocked a Ryan Giggs effort that looked destined for the corner. “This is Liverpool’s day,” roared Andy Gray on commentary. Denis Irwin said United had “thrown the kitchen sink at it” and Yorke later said he felt was going to be “one of those days.”. Not so fast.. Liverpool had already lost Paul Ince, who asked to come off with a back injury with 20 minutes left. The former United midfielder cupped his ear to the Old Trafford faithful but in the technical area, his manager was even more unhappy. Houllier felt Ince should have played through the pain barrier and it was an early strain in a relationship that never warmed up.. With nine minutes to play, it was Ferguson’s time to make a change. Irwin saw his number go up. It wasn’t a surprise. The full-back had become accustomed to Ferguson always taking the gamble to win a game. On this occasion, it was Solskjaer who replaced him in a move that quite clearly signalled all out attack. It was Giggs, Keane, Paul Scholes and David Beckham behind Solskjaer, Yorke and Cole.. It eventually paid off. Jamie Redknapp was adjudged to have fouled Ronny Johnsen, although Liverpool were furious at the decision. Beckham floated the free-kick to the back post, Cole headed it across goal and Yorke tapped in from a couple of yards out. On the touchline, Ferguson jumped up in delight and then raced back to the dugout, up the steps and into the arms of assistant Jim Ryan.. The atmosphere was electric now but a replay at Anfield was the last thing on United’s minds. Jaap Stam floated a ball in from deep, Scholes managed to control it towards Solskjaer, who took a couple of touches and then slotted past David James with his left foot. The Norwegian felt it was the only time he touched the ball in his match-winning cameo.. “After we’d equalised, we just go straight up again. Jaap hoofs a ball up in behind, Scholesy gets it, so I run into his path, really, and just take the ball off him,” Solskjaer told United’s website.. ALSO READ: United confirm stance on Rashford future. ALSO READ: Four United players set to return vs Liverpool. “I use one touch to take it off him, one touch to set myself, and then another to shoot through Jamie Carragher’s legs. Those are the only touches I had in that game, I think.. “Sometimes you’ve just got to make the most of it as a sub. That was my job whenever I came on: to be in and around the box. I wasn’t there to create chances for everyone else, I was just there to smell where the ball was going to land and that’s where I was probably better than most.”. After the game, Ferguson was already talking about coming back in matches and the character within his team, traits that would both prove vital to the treble that would eventually be delivered at the end of May.. “We had witnessed a demonstration of the morale that was to be every bit as vital as rich skill in the five months that lay ahead of United,” he later wrote in his first autobiography. “Tactics are important but they don’t win football matches. Men win football matches.. “The best teams stand out because they are teams, because the individual members have been so truly integrated that the team functions with a single spirit. The Manchester United of 1999 had talent by the bundle but there was nothing about them that I admired or valued more than their team spirit.”. Dwight Yorke taps in an 88th minute equaliser (Image: Daily Mirror). “We had some magical moments within that season, but that was incredible,” said Yorke. “We were one-nil down with two or three minutes to play, we were just pushing and thought it was one of those days and we weren’t going to score at all. But then everything changed. Liverpool had played well, defended well and they thought they’d won, but then we snatched it from them.”. The atmosphere in the dressing room afterwards was a mixture of relief and euphoria. It became the kind of game synonymous with United’s 1998/99 treble, when they would constantly rescue games from losing positions or win matches in the most head-scathingly incredible circumstances.. More remarkable comebacks would follow, most notably in Turin against Juventus in the Champions League semi-final second leg, against Tottenham on the final day of the league season and then in the Nou Camp on Wednesday, May 26, 1999, when they left it even later than they had against Liverpool. By now the muscle memory was so strong that they always had the belief a turnaround was on the cards.. “To beat Liverpool this way is better than beating them 5-0, I think,” Solskjaer said when interviewed on TV straight after the FA Cup win. “It’s the best way to win a football game in the last minute.”. You didn’t yet know the half of it, Ole.