Quarter Final,Second Leg
21 March 1984
Old Trafford,
ManchesterAttendance: 58,350
Referee: Paolo Casarin
Referee: Paolo Casarin
This now defunct competition was an old-fashioned two-legged knock-out. United, managed by Ron Atkinson, had qualified after winning the FA Cup after a final replay with Brighton and Hove Albion. Barcelona meanwhile, suffering a decade without a Liga title, had won the Copa Del Rey by beating Real Madrid in an unforgettable final. In that game, Diego Maradona had finally begun to look the part under the coaching of compatriot Cesar Luis Menotti.
March 1984 saw a meeting of two clubs both largely confined to cup successes during that era. The first leg took the tie to the Camp Nou where United put up a decent account of themselves but fell to an own-goal from young Scottish defender Graeme Hogg and a late blockbuster from Juan Carlos Rojo. Back at Old Trafford it seemed United had been handed mountain to climb. Yet on a night still remembered by fans of an evermore August vintage, the roof was very nearly taken off the Stretford End by a United performance matched by the ear-splitting baying from the stands. Bryan Robson, the subject of rumoured bids from Juventus and AC Milan, put Maradona in the shade with the type of lung-bursting and inspirational performance that gave him the monicker "Captain Marvel". First, Robbo threw himself headlong to bravely nod in a Ray Wilkins corner. Five minutes into the second half, Robson seized on a mistake from Javier Urruticoechea in the Barcelona goal to put the tie level. Robson then played a leading role in the clincher, playing a raking ball out wide to Arthur Albiston. Norman Whiteside headed back across the full-back's ball in and Frank Stapleton was the coolest man in the postcode as he slotted home. Ecstatic scenes on the terraces followed. There was still time for Bernd Schuster to curve a shot inches wide yet the night ended with Robson being carried from the pitch by hordes of fans all exhorting him to stay.
