There have been many great games between Manchester United and Newcastle United over the years. Who can not forget the Cantona volley, the FA Cup Final in 1999, Wayne Rooney’s wonder strike and Sanchez’s winning header. Here we look at five great games as we prepare to take on the Magpies this Sunday.
1. Newcastle United 0-1 Manchester United (Premier League), 4th March 1996
January 1996, Newcastle United had amassed a twelve point lead over United to be at the top of the Premier League. However, the Magpies started dropping points, whilst United were gathering momentum making up ground on the league leaders. So much so, that when this game came around in March 1996 only four points were separating both sides.
The game itself, Newcastle went on the attack from the early onset trying to get into the lead. But United stood firm as Peter Schmeichel was putting in one of the best performances I have seen in a game. Firstly, he saved two shots from Les Ferdinand, then another from Peter Beardsley. Philippe Albert did manage to get the better of the Danish goalkeeper but thanks to the crossbar the ball never made it into the back of the net.
United had not attack the opposition half much in the first forty-five minutes of the game but six minutes in the second half, this all changed. Andy Cole played a pass to Phil Neville who was on the left side of the penalty area. Neville then crossed the ball in towards the back post where Eric Cantona came into to volley it into the back of the net. As the final whistle was blown, United had cut Newcastle’s lead down to one point.
The significance of the victory meant United went to claim the Premier League title at the end of the season.
2. Manchester United 2-0 Newcastle United (FA Cup Final), 22nd May 1999
United were on course for the treble when they met Newcastle United in the FA Cup Final in May 1999. The Premier League had already been secured after beating Tottenham on the final day of the season. With the Champions League final against Bayern Munich approaching, Ferguson made changes to the team.
Roy Keane and Paul Scholes both started the game as they were not going to be able to participate in the Champions League final due to yellow cards they both received in the semi final against Juventus. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer spearhead our attack alongside Andy Cole.
As for the game itself, an injury early on to Roy Keane meant he had to come off. He was replaced by Teddy Sheringham who made an instant impact on the game as Paul Scholes set him up to strike the ball under the legs of Newcastle goalkeeper Steve Harper.
Sheringham then made the assist to set up Schooles to score our second goal in the 53rd minute and go on to secure the victory.
3. Manchester United 2-1 Newcastle United (Premier League), 24th April 2005
United were looking to keep up the pressure on Arsenal in the race for second in the league when the game against the Magpies came about. All was not going to plan in the first half as Newcastle took a surprise lead when Darren Ambrose scored after a poor clearance from United goalkeeper Tim Howard. As we went into the second half chasing the equaliser, Wayne Rooney had been on the periphery of the game and was getting more frustrated as time went on.
Roy Keane hit a long ball forward into the opposition half, Newcastle’s Peter Ramage header it away but only 25 yards from the goal. Rooney then executed with great power and precision to strike the ball into the back of the net which drew such delight from the Old Trafford crowd on that day.
Rooney stated in an interview for the DVD Rooney – Goal Machine that he saw the header coming out and hit it as hard as he could and that it was probably the cleanest he has ever caught the ball.
As United chased the victory, there was another surprise in the form of Wes Brown’s winner goal from a Ryan Giggs corner – it was his first goal in 117 league games.
After the game, Ferguson said to the Guardian about Rooney’s goal, “It was a phenomenal strike. I was ready to take him off because he had been injured in the first half but he’s always such a threat I decided to keep him on. It was absolutely fantastic.”
4. Newcastle United 2-6 Manchester United (Premier League), 12th April 2003
United were looking to reclaim the Premier League title back as they hit the Magpies for six at St. James Park. It did not appear this would be the case as Newcastle went into the lead through Jermaine Jenas’s goal in the twentieth minute.
But United were in no mood as they ruthlessly came back to destroy Newcastle as they scored four goals before the half time interval. Firstly through Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, then a Paul Scholes double with two sweet strikes and then a fourth from Ryan Giggs.
Scholes got his hat-trick in the second half and Ruud Van Nistelrooy provided the icing on the cake through his penalty.
5. Manchester United 3-2 Newcastle United (Premier League), 6th October 2018
Speculation had been rife before this game that the then United manager Jose Mourinho was going to be sacked whether we won, lost or even drew this game. It looked like it might have been the case when after ten minutes into the first half, Newcastle took a 2-0 lead through both Kenedy and Muto to stun Old Trafford fans into silence.
United were looking all over the place and did not seem to know what to do. As a fan watching the game at Old Trafford, I do not think I have ever seen such an awful first half performance from United.
Second half, United were purposeful and more urgent on the ball as we tried to get back into the game. A sublime goal from a Juan Mata free kick in the seventieth minute was the beginning of the comeback as we attack the opposition goal even more. Martial then curled a shot into the bottom left corner of the goal from Pogba’s pass to equalise.
Then, in the final minute before the ninety minutes was up, Ashley Young swung a cross in from the right hand side of the pitch and Alexis Sanchez score the winning goal through his header to send the Old Trafford faithful into sheer joy and relief.
I think this victory did keep Mourinho in the role for the time being but he would then be sacked two months later after the defeat against Liverpool.
