Stepney saved the day for United

The headlines went, quite rightly, to the United goalscorers - Bobby Charlton, George Best and Brian Kidd - but the unfolding drama at Wembley that day produced a hero whose contribution proved critical but passed almost unnoticed.

Without goalkeeper Alex Stepney, United would almost certainly have lost the match in the final minutes of normal time when Benfica were in the ascendancy at 1-1. At that point, the Portuguese stepped up the pressure. Twice Eusebio broke through the United defence. His first shot was saved comfortably by Stepney and then, with four minutes left, he raced clear to meet a long pass.

Stepney came off his line quickly and instead of placing his shot to one side of the former Millwall and Chelsea keeper, Eusebio hit it as hard as he could and Stepney just got his finger tips to it.

Eusebio immediately congratulated the Mitcham-born player. It was a great moment on a great night for English football and the turning point of the match, as United went on to score three goals in four minutes in extra-time.

Matt Busby, the United manager, had paid Chelsea £55,000 for Stepney. That was a lot of money in those days but that night Busby declared: "Alex is one of the best signings I've made."

The win over Benfica was a personal triumph for Busby, who had survived the Munich disaster in February 1958. He had pushed for United to play in Europe, despite the protests of the Football League, and had agonised over his decision for a decade after United's plane had crashed on the runway at Munich trying to take off on the flight home after they had played Red Star in Belgrade.

For Busby, the European Cup had become a personal crusade - and for him to win it was a fitting tribute to those who had died.

In 1968, I was one of our team of reporters at Wembley as United lifted the European Cup for the first time with a 4-1 win over Benfica of Portugal after extra-time. In part two of my trip down Wembley memory lane tomorrow I'll be recalling Barcelona's final at the old stadium, against Sampdoria in 1992 . . .