The Treble ... !!!

[Andi Istiabudi]

#TREBLE99: 20 YEARS SINCE THE WIN OVER SPURS

Manchester United won the 1998/99 Premier League title, the first leg of the Treble, by beating Tottenham 2-1 on this day 20 years ago.

The Reds approached the final day at Old Trafford needing a victory to make sure of the championship after a 0-0 draw at Brian Kidd's Blackburn Rovers in midweek.

With second-placed Arsenal at home to Aston Villa, there looked like being a real twist to the race when Spurs took the lead with a looping effort from Les Ferdinand, potentially handing their local rivals the trophy.

However, David Beckham equalised before half-time with a wicked finish past Ian Walker, three minutes before half-time, to spark hopes of another famous comeback.

Andy Cole came on for Teddy Sheringham at half-time and soon found himself through on goal, latching on to a long ball by Gary Neville.

“I remember it like it was yesterday,” he said. “As soon as Nev knocked the ball in, it was a bit further than I expected so I knew I had to bring it down with my first touch but, after that, what happened was instinct.

”It bounced up and then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ian Walker in the half-half position, so I just instinctively tossed a lob up, caught it perfectly on the instep and it just bounced into the back of the net.“

The job was far from done as Walker kept out a couple of efforts by Paul Scholes and Dwight Yorke's overhead kick flew over the bar.

Steffen Iversen had one great opportunity for Spurs, only for Peter Schmeichel, on his farewell league appearance for the Reds, to pull off a key save.

Scholes and Nicky Butt could have eased the growing tension but the outcome remained in the balance throughout, with the visitors very much in the game. Referee Graham Poll's final whistle was greeted with jubilation and relief as United won the title on home turf for the first time since Sir Matt Busby's era

“It was tense,” said manager Alex Ferguson afterwards. “Very tense.

”It's the nature of things at United, that we make it hard work for ourselves. We did that by going a goal behind. But I had a feeling Andy would score.

“I thought we did well in the first half and I fancied our chances in the second half.”

Tickets are still available to purchase for our Treble Reunion game against Bayern Munich on 26 May at Old Trafford. Click here for more information.

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