2 Eras. 2 Teams. 2 Trebles.
Football's Greatest Stories - Issue 4
The Continental Treble is a feat only accomplished twice in English Football history. By Manchester United in 1999, and by Manchester City in 2023. It is quite possibly the most respected accomplishment in English football, aside from a quadruple, which is yet to be accomplished by any team. Let’s take a trip down memory lane and relive the most iconic moments from each of these historic runs in issue 4 of Football’s Greatest Stories.
Manchester United - The Treble of ‘99
Clinching the Premier League on the final day
Four days before the final matchday of the season, Arsenal travelled to play an excellent Leeds side away from home. They sat top of the Premier League at the time, closely trailed by Manchester United. However, after a 1-0 loss in that game, they put the fate of the Premier League in Manchester United’s hands ahead of the final game of the season after Manchester United got a point from Blackburn Rovers.
So on the final matchday of the Premier League season, Manchester United had to beat Tottenham to guarantee their Premier League victory. But it wasn’t going to plan when Les Ferdinand scored a brilliant goal to stun Old Trafford and give Tottenham a 1-0 lead on the final game of the season, effectively handing the Premier League over to his team’s North London rivals in the process. Arsenal won against Aston Villa that day, so without a win for United, Arsenal would have retained their Premier League title. But United responded. They responded with a brilliant David Beckham goal to equalise, followed by an Andy Cole chip over the goalkeeper that sealed the victory in the game and clinched the first leg of the treble.
3 Unbelievable Goals in the FA Cup Semis
The 2 best clubs in England of the 1998/99 season met in the Semi Finals of the FA Cup. Arsenal played Manchester United, and in this game, we witnessed one of the most exciting showdowns in FA Cup history, thanks to some incredible individual quality. This was the replay of United and Arsenal’s first encounter in the semis, and while that game ended goalless, David Beckham hit a screamer from 35 yards to open the scoring of this game in the 17th minute.. He didn’t even take a touch to set it when he received the ball, and he hit it with his magical right foot. The ball swerved right to left, arcing away from Seaman and tucking just inside the far post.
It took until the 69th minute for Arsenal to respond, but the response did come, from Arsenal’s magician Dennis Bergkamp. He received the pass with his back to goal, dribbled into a slightly more central position, and unleashed a low, driven shot with his right foot. It took a deflection off Jaap Stam, wrong-footing Peter Schmeichel and ending up in the back of the net. It only started to get worse for United when Roy Keane got his second yellow card and was sent off, followed by a penalty being awarded to Arsenal. But when Bergkamp stepped up to take it, Peter Schmeichel responded with an exceptional save.
But the highlight of the game was undoubtedly when Ryan Giggs stepped up with an unbelievable solo goal to win the game for United. He intercepted a poor Patrick Viera pass well in his own half, and proceeded to dribble past Viera and right through the Arsenal defensive line with intricate technical control. He then proceeded to smash the ball into the roof of the net past Seamen as the United fans erupted into celebration. United proceeded to beat Newcastle in the final to secure the second leg of their treble. The Champions League was left.
Goals in Fergie time secure the Champions League
The 1999 Champions League final was contested between Bayern Munich and Manchester United, and it was the German side who struck first in the Camp Nou. United conceded a free kick on the edge of the box from the left, and Mario Basler curled the ball into the bottom right hand corner, around the United wall, sending the travelling fans from Germany wild with celebration.
Chances came for both sides throughout the game, with Beckham swinging in crosses from the left constantly over the course of the 90 minutes, but for almost the entirety of the game, the score remained locked at 1-0 to Bayern Munich. It took 91 minutes of fighting from United to find their goal, but when Giggs struck one from the edge of the area and Sheringham got a touch from close range, United had their equaliser. And of course, David Beckham played a part in United’s winner, as he swung in the corner that was flicked on by Sheringham to Solskjaer who tapped it into the back of the net. The treble came home to England for the first time in history. And it came home to Manchester. Arguably Trafford but I won’t get into that.
Manchester City - The 2023 Treble Winners
Beating your title rivals 7-2 on aggregate
While Arsenal could remain top of the Premier League for almost the entire season, what they could not do was beat the team below them. Man City didn’t have one particular moment that won them the league; despite early setbacks in their campaign and worse form than Arsenal for most of it, they won the league by a relatively comfortable margin in the end. But the man who brought the thunder against Arsenal home and away was Kevin De Bruyne. Let’s start with his wonderstrike at the Emirates.
Tomiyasu gave the ball away thanks to a poor back-pass, but De Bruyne met the ball in a difficult area for a shot. But from outside the box, with the ball bouncing towards him, he launched it over Ramsdale with his weak foot, and it curled into the net with ease. It was brilliant technique that most players couldn’t do on their strong foot, but Kevin struck this one with his left. These 3 frames should illustrate the technique.
He then went on to assist the goal to secure the victory and make it 3-1, and back at the Etihad, he scored 2 brilliant goals and got an excellent assist to give City a 4-1 victory. He produced moments like this consistently throughout the Premier League season, and was instrumental in the other 2 legs of City’s treble.
FA Cup Glory against your local rivals.
So many moments made this FA Cup special. City beat Arsenal and Chelsea on the way to the final in tense encounters. But the moment that made it special was beating Manchester United, their local rivals, in the final. What made that game so special, you may ask? Well, I’ll refresh your memory. City scored after 13 seconds. The ball was played straight to Ortega from kick off, who passed a long ball into Haaland, who headed it on to Kevin De Bruyne, who headed it to Gundogan, who volleyed the ball from outside the box into the top right hand corner of the goal.
But United got a goal back when a controversial penalty was given to United after the ball skimmed the fingertips of Jack Grealish in the box. Bruno Fernandes slotted the ball into the back of the net to level the score. But Gundogan wasn’t going to let his team’s treble chances slip away. In the 51st minute, from a Kevin De Bruyne cross, he hit another volley into the back of the net from outside the box, this time on his weak foot, and City had the lead again. Those two Gundogan wondergoals secured leg 2 of City’s treble.
Rodri rocket and late Ederson heroics secure the treble
City still needed to do what they failed to do in 2021; win the Champions League for the first time in their history. Their run to the final was far from easy, playing, dominating and destroying European giants Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, the latter of which they completely annihilated in the semis, winning 4-0. In the final, against an excellent and defensively solid Inter Milan side, completing the Champions League was going to be a difficult task, even for Pep Guardiola.
The game started out cagey for City, who played nervously in the opening stages of the game, however, they really started to grow into the game as it continued. However, their chances were not helped when Kevin De Bruyne had to limp off with a serious injury in the first half, being replaced by Phil Foden. They fought without their star midfielder for 68 minutes without a goal, before it finally came in the second half.
A ball from Akanji. A run from Bernardo Silva. And then the shot from Rodri. The net bulges. City lead in Istanbul. They are twenty-two minutes from the treble.
Inter had their chances. Dias made clearances. Lukaku blocked a shot of his own teammate. But most incredibly of all, Ederson made late saves to secure his team’s treble. That is what a world-class goalkeeper does. And after one final crucial Ederson save in the 95th minute, the whistle was blown, and the treble came home to Manchester.
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