Ken Doherty was the latest guest on Off The Ball to look back at some great Champions League memories.
As an avid Manchester United fan, Doherty unsurprisingly remembers 1999 with great fondness, he was there in Barcelona - but only just.
Snooker legend @kendoherty1997 joins us to chart his favourite memories from following Manchester United through Europe ⚽️🏆
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Doherty picks up the story: "I was travelling to meet some of my Manchester United pals and the supporters club.
"I was travelling back and forth to England at the time and you didn’t need your passport at the time travelling between Ireland and England.
"But I actually forgot my passport. So I got to Gatwick and the guy says 'if you’re travelling on, you need your passport.'
"Luckily I informed Aer Lingus and I got my brother to drive to the airport with the passport and leave it at the Aer Lingus desk and a stewardess took it on the next available flight."
Connecting Flight
That wasn't the end of the story, Doherty was delayed in Gatwick and there were fewer flights back then: "but of course, I missed my connecting flight to Barcelona before the final."
"So I missed out on the night before the final but fair play to Aer Lingus and fair play to that stewardess but I made it to Barcelona the next day.
"It would have been great to have been there the night before because there were so many Manchester United fans in Barcelona. It was still great to be there for the match."
Doherty recalls the build-up to the game and the tension mixed with confidence for the fans
"They didn’t have their talisman Roy Keane and no Paul Scholes either. Going into that match the fans had hope and great expectation but they knew about the might of Bayern.
"I was actually watching the game back on Virgin Media last week and when you’ve been to a game the memories came flooding back.
"You forgot how dominant Bayern were, particularly in the first half.
"Even in the second half, they got a bit of luck, the chip over Schmeichel and the overheard kick from Jancker off the crossbar.
"They needed that little bit of luck and they got it, but what happened in the last five minutes of that game was just incredible."
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