Manchester United First European Title

Manchester United won the 1966–67 Football League title by four points over Nottingham Forest with a game to spare; this secured their second European Cup appearance in three seasons for 1967–68. After overcoming the Maltese champions, Hibernians, in the first round, United were handed yet another trip to Yugoslavia, this time to take on FK Sarajevo. The Red Devils faced a long journey to Sarajevo for the first leg, and they were held to a 0–0 draw in a very physical match. The second leg was equally robust, but United took control of the tie with goals from John Aston and George Best. Sarajevo were only able to pull back one goal and United went through to the quarter-finals, where they were drawn against Polish side Górnik Zabrze. United won the first leg at Old Trafford 2–0; an own goal from Stefan Florenski put them 1–0 up after an hour, and Brian Kidd doubled their lead in the final minute. The Poles had come to be considered one of the better sides in the last eight, and they were able to come away with a 1–0 win in the second leg, but it was not enough to prevent United from progressing to a semi-final tie with Real Madrid, which they successfuly navigated to set up a clash with S.L. Benfica in the final at Wembley. They beat the Portuguese champions 4–1 in extra time to claim their first European trophy.
United reached the semi-finals of the European Cup as holders in the 1968–69 season, but lost to A.C. Milan. They would not compete in Europe for another seven years.