If you could change the outcome, or one specific moment, from a single match what would it be?

[#07]

Out of all of our European misadventures, and there have been too many, the one that stays with me was going out to Leverkusen in the 2002 CL semi. Unbelievable missed opportunity. Seem to remember Barthez being tiny finally counted against him at some point during that tie.

What made it worse was that somehow I'd won 2 tickets to the final in Glasgow earlier that week on the uefa website, and we only had to beat blood Leverkusen. Argh.

The only silver lining about that is, had we won the Champions League that year I think Sir Alex would've followed through on his threat to resign as manager. All the talk at the time is the Board wanted to bring in Sven. Imagine where that would've led us!

Portsmouth, FA Cup, 2008.

I'd eradicate the club's existence if possible

We'd have won the treble. Refereeing in that match was abysmal. Can pick out any number of moments from that match.

I'm actually now just torturing myself by lurking in this thread. Just remembering more and more injustices that screwed us over.

Am I really the first one to mention either of Barça CL finals? We could’ve well been the first time in history to have defended the European title. Has to be that game

The second one was a cat with a mouse but, tell you what, if Eto'o didn't score than first goal...Barcelona looked well shaky until that goal settled them. But as soon as you gave that team a 1-0 lead to defend the passing carousel started. We did well in 2011 to get back into it but we were totally outmatched. However, that 2009 game. If we just stop that Eto'o goal and keep applying pressure...

 

[WeePat]

The loss you mean? 1-0 thanks to Shaun bloody Maloney

Was that the season Wigan pulled off the great escape?

I really liked that team - Diame, Moses, Mccarthy, Maloney etc managed by Martinez. They always played entertaining football.

 

[TempusFugit]

Get Pau Torres out of the fecking way for Cavani's header against Villareal. Ole would've won a trophy and the club would be in a much better place.

 

[matherto]

Was that the season Wigan pulled off the great escape?

I really liked that team - Diame, Moses, Mccarthy, Maloney etc managed by Martinez. They always played entertaining football.

It was.

They had a few seasons of doing it but that season especially was tight.

 

[Josh 76]

Get Pau Torres out of the fecking way for Cavani's header against Villareal. Ole would've won a trophy and the club would be in a much better place.

We would still have Fred and Mctomminy in CM

 

[tomaldinho1]

That they didn't cancel the 19/20 season when covid kicked in & deprived us of the biggest RAWK meltdown of all time.

 

[Alive and Kicking]

Waddle not squaring it to Platt/Lineker during ET of that '90 semi-final. The shot he took wasn't really on (I think it gets tipped - via the faintest fingertip touch you'll ever see - onto the post, rather than it being an outright 'miss') and you can't really look to the penalty shootout as that was lost right from the beginning.

 

[Bubz27]

Portsmouth 2008 FA Cup. We win another treble.

 

[BrilliantOrange]

Lucas Moura in the semi's against Ajax

 

[Grylte]

Would be nice if Nani didn't stomp someone in the chest, but i think i'd go for the offside goal from a freekick that wasn't a freekick, that won them the league.

 

[Relevated]

Rafael sending off vs Bayern.

We win that tie, rest Rooney and win another Champions League.

Go a leg back and its the moment Rooney got his ankle kicked by their player when they scored the late goal.

 

[Wittmann45]

Fletcher red card vs Arsenal in 2009. I think United still loses to Barca, but having Fletcher as part of the midfield three, instead of Anderson, makes the game much closer. He was United's best CM that year and one of the best in the world in his form.

People also suggesting Nani's red card, I think United would have struggled against Bayern that year. Bayern waltz their way into the final, destroying Barca along the way, and were easily the best team in Europe that year.

 

[Jippy]

The loss you mean? 1-0 thanks to Shaun bloody Maloney

Oh god, my memory is not what it used to be and maybe I'm trying to block that out.

 

[Dominos]

Delaying the inevitable with that, really.

Scholes offside goal vs Porto in 2004 would be the one for me. We'd have another CL title if they'd got that call right.

The Scholes offside v Porto is an outstanding shout. The linesman had a clear view but botched it all. Cost us a CL trophy.

The arrogance of these posts

It was a last 16 tie, not a final.

Rafael sending off vs Bayern.

We win that tie, rest Rooney and win another Champions League.

Not sure how realistic it is that we'd have been resting Rooney given we were still battling for the league title till the last day.

We also had 2 more ties to play including treble winners Inter... Not sure how you've arrived at the conclusion we had the trophy in the bag.

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

Well Aguerrrrrrrro is the obvious one but either

1. The pitiful performance against City 2012. 1-0 down and we arsed about… a draw would have basically secured a title
2. West Ham 1-1 last day of 95 season meaning the tw@ts Shearer and Dalglish win a title

coulda woulda shoulda

 

[Siorac]

First one that springs to mind was Beckham kicking out at Simeone in the World Cup. I reckon we'd have gone on to win it that year.

That's a bold call, considering England would have had to beat the Netherlands, Brazil, and France for that to happen. Calling that unlikely would be a monumental understatement.

 

[Cutch]

Am I really the first one to mention either of Barça CL finals? We could’ve well been the first time in history to have defended the European title. Has to be that game

The obvious answer really. Some of the other suggestions had so much more still to happen to ultimately end up winning something, with the exception of Agueroooo, but that was delaying the inevitable as has already been mentioned

 

[Cutch]

Get Pau Torres out of the fecking way for Cavani's header against Villareal. Ole would've won a trophy and the club would be in a much better place.

Can't see how we'd be much better off than now. We've just signed Varane and Sancho

 

[Siorac]

The arrogance of these posts

It was a last 16 tie, not a final.

Also that disallowed goal came just before the end of the first half. Porto would have had 45 minutes to get a result, it's not exactly guaranteed that we would have beaten them.

 

[Desert Eagle]

Am I really the first one to mention either of Barça CL finals? We could’ve well been the first time in history to have defended the European title. Has to be that game

Nope I mentioned it earlier

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

The arrogance of these posts

It was a last 16 tie, not a final.

So what? If all the other results stayed the same we tended to get good results vs Lyon. Deportivo were underwhelming, despite their miracle result vs AC Milan and we'd likely have rolled over Monaco based on our quality and pedigree. It's no stretch and certainly not arrogant.

Also that disallowed goal came just before the end of the first half. Porto would have had 45 minutes to get a result, it's not exactly guaranteed that we would have beaten them.

2-0 up at OT at half time. Are you guys even United fans or have the post Fergie years decimated your recollection of the kind of team we used to be?

 

[Dominos]

So what? If all the other results stayed the same we tended to get good results vs Lyon. Deportivo were underwhelming, despite their miracle result vs AC Milan and we'd likely have rolled over Monaco based on our quality and pedigree. It's no stretch and certainly not arrogant.



2-0 up at OT at half time. Are you guys even United fans or have the post Fergie years decimated your recollection of the kind of team we used to be?

Imagine if Liverpool or Arsenal or any other team started listing every last 16 tie they ever lost and claimed they were robbed of the trophy that year because it was inevitable they'd have won the quarters, semis and final. It's beyond arrogant.

The champions league is very difficult to win, the fact Fergie only got his hands on 2 is testament to that. "The team we used to be" you say as if we won every champions league trophy we ever contested.

 

[Sylar]

I think change the outcome of the 2009 final
We would have won the European Cup a 4th time and first to win CL back to back

 

[sillwuka]

Winning in this beautiful kit

 

[Siorac]

So what? If all the other results stayed the same we tended to get good results vs Lyon. Deportivo were underwhelming, despite their miracle result vs AC Milan and we'd likely have rolled over Monaco based on our quality and pedigree. It's no stretch and certainly not arrogant.


2-0 up at OT at half time. Are you guys even United fans or have the post Fergie years decimated your recollection of the kind of team we used to be?

Monaco knocked out a Chelsea side that finished ahead of us in the league that season and Real Madrid's quality and pedigree didn't help them much against them either.

We were no great shakes in 2003/04, really, particularly after Rio's suspension. This was the starting line-up against Porto:

Howard, Phil Neville, Gary Neville, Brown, O'Shea, Fletcher, Djemba-Djemba, Butt, Giggs, Scholes, van Nistelrooy

Yeah, that offside call was a shocking decision - but we were pretty much awful in both games against Porto. We shouldn't pretend otherwise, it wasn't like getting knocked out by Leverkusen in 2002 where we absolutely battered them. Incidentally, I'd change that: Forlan's late chance to go in so that Fergie gets to compete in a CL final in Glasgow.

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

Imagine if Liverpool or Arsenal or any other team started listing every last 16 tie they ever lost and claimed they were robbed of the trophy that year because it was inevitable they'd have won the quarters, semis and final. It's beyond arrogant.

The champions league is very difficult to win, the fact Fergie only got his hands on 2 is testament to that. "The team we used to be" you say as if we won every champions league trophy we ever contested.

We were the top team after the group stage that year winning more points than anyone. Logically that made us favourites. It's not anywhere close to arrogant to consider that had we not been screwed over by a terrible call causing us to go out against Porto that we would have made it to the final and likely have won it. We were denied a perfectly legitimate goal. There are no delusional claims here.

The team we used to be as in one that made it to the quarter finals, semi finals and finals of the CL on a regular basis.

 

[Hastar]

Henderson's red against City in 13-14 season. I firmly believe that we would have won the title if he was available. Gerrard worked as a deep lying creator because Hendo did all the dirty work. We missed him in those final games.

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

Monaco knocked out a Chelsea side that finished ahead of us in the league that season and Real Madrid's quality and pedigree didn't help them much against them either.

We were no great shakes in 2003/04, really, particularly after Rio's suspension. This was the starting line-up against Porto:

Howard, Phil Neville, Gary Neville, Brown, O'Shea, Fletcher, Djemba-Djemba, Butt, Giggs, Scholes, van Nistelrooy

Yeah, that offside call was a shocking decision - but we were pretty much awful in both games against Porto. We shouldn't pretend otherwise, it wasn't like getting knocked out by Leverkusen in 2002 where we absolutely battered them. Incidentally, I'd change that: Forlan's late chance to go in so that Fergie gets to compete in a CL final in Glasgow.

As I posted above, we were the best team coming out of the group stages that year. Logically, making us favourites. It's not arrogant to consider that we likely would have gone all the way to the final.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

I'd have given Terry a different left boot with longer studs, personally

 

[King Eric 7]

The kung fu kick and subsequent lengthy suspension.

 

[DJ_21]

It’s got to be that aguero goal late on that cost us the title!

 

[giorno]

So many off the top of my head. If i have to pick one, mmmm....caniggia's goal

 

[Alex99]

Not sure I'd go with Scholes vs. Porto in 2003/04 simply because it was a last 16 tie. Same reason I wouldn't go for Nani red card in 2012/13.

My pick would probably be that Portsmouth FA Cup tie in 2007/08 because that would have given us pretty much a clear run to another Treble.


The Scholes goal is an interesting one though for a potential butterfly effect chain:

• Scholes' goal rightfully stands, Porto are eliminated in the round of 16, Jose Mourinho doesn't win the Champions League
• Jose Mourinho doesn't win the Champions League, Chelsea don't hire him
• Chelsea don't hire Jose Mourinho, they don't win anything, despite Abramovich's millions
• Chelsea don't win anything, City and PSG aren't bought out and bankrolled in similar fashions, also Qatar aren't awarded a World Cup

 

[RedDevilCanuck]

The arrogance of these posts

It was a last 16 tie, not a final.


Not sure how realistic it is that we'd have been resting Rooney given we were still battling for the league title till the last day.

We also had 2 more ties to play including treble winners Inter... Not sure how you've arrived at the conclusion we had the trophy in the bag.

I cant remember exactly the games rooney missed but we would have beaten that inter side. They wouldn't have been able to deal with our pace and power. Fergie got the better of Jose the year before too.

 

[Schneckerl]

Italy vs Austria 1934 World Cup Semi Final, so there's a good chance my country ends up World Cup winners

 

[Ixion]

No Keane own goal against Real in 2000. I don't know if we had gone on to win but if we had won that one I think we'd have gone to the final and Fergie would have retained the CL.

 

[RedBanker]

Nani's red card by Cnut Catcher. Madrid were shaking in their boots till the so called ref did as instructed.

 

[Dante]

The moment Abu Dhabi bought themselves a soccer franchise.

 

[lex talionis]

Porto were the eventual CL winner that season, but let's not let facts get in the way of a good spin job.

 

[matherto]

No Keane own goal against Real in 2000. I don't know if we had gone on to win but if we had won that one I think we'd have gone to the final and Fergie would have retained the CL.

We’d have lost to Bayern I think.