‘Atmosphere was crazy’ - Former Manchester United star relives epic Champions League tie vs Barcelona

Manchester United and Barcelona have a healthy history of European bouts over the course of their histories.

Traditionally, these are on a Champions League stage but this week the two clubs face off in the second leg of their Europa League play-off, something unimaginable a decade ago. United’s last Champions League final saw them succumb to Barcelona at Wembley in 2011.

United's last European trophy came in the 2016/17 Europa League, but their most recent Champions League triumph unforgettably came on a rainy night in Moscow in May 2008. John Terry’s slip is etched in the minds of Chelsea and United fans alike but if a piece of luck brought the club their first Champions League trophy since 1999, then a moment of magic initially sealed their place in the final.

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United had to get past then-holders Barcelona to reach Russia. Mikael Silvestre didn’t get off the bench in the goalless first leg at the Nou Camp but did get a taste of the action for the final moments of the second leg.

He entered the field to shore up shop for the final four minutes, including stoppages, to ensure United got through to the final after Paul Scholes’ 14th-minute thunderbolt, a strike he later clarified was a miskick. “It came off the outside of my foot,” he told Gary Neville on the Overlap in September.

“I don’t think I was thinking of doing that. I was thinking of hitting the target to be honest with you, but when it goes towards the keeper and that way… you don’t mean that. No chance.”

Either way, it sent Old Trafford into a wild eruption, leaving a young Lionel Messi, on-pomp Iniesta and now-boss Xavi speechless. Silvestre remembers it well.

“The atmosphere was crazy and European