A Manchester United legend in the iconic treble-winning squad has pinpointed the exact moment that he knew his career at Old Trafford had come to an end.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s legendary Manchester United team of the past became the first English side in history to complete a continental treble in football.
United narrowly edged out Arsenal to the Premier League title by a single point in the 1998-99 season before beating Newcastle in the FA Cup final.
The Red Devils completed their historic treble with a famous Champions League win over Bayern Munich at the Camp Nou in Barcelona in 1999.
Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s heroics from the bench ensured that United scored twice in injury time to seal a 2-1 win in the Champions League final.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s treble-winning squad was filled to the brim with talented players, including the likes of Roy Keane, Andy Cole and Peter Schmeichel.
But United’s memorable treble win was far from simple and the campaign took its toll on one club legend, who started doubting his own ability.
Man Utd legend on treble-winning season
United’s iconic treble win has been the subject of a new documentary series on Amazon Prime Video called ’99,’ which debuted on Friday.
Peter Schmeichel, who was a key part of the United treble winners, opened up on how his confidence was shaken during the Champions League campaign.
The 60-year-old United legend was at fault for mistakes in the European competition, including a blunder against Bayern Munich in a 2-2 draw.
Schmeichel insisted that he wanted to “look invincible” in the Champions League, but the Danish former shot-stopper was stunned by what happened.
“In that environment [Champions League] I wanted to look invincible, that you cannot beat me,” he said.
“If you beat me, then this is your best day in your life, best day you’ve ever had.
Now and again you make a mistake.
“But then I made the next one, and the next one and the next one. All of a sudden everything was a conscious decision, rather than an instinctive one.
“Your responsibility is not just to your teammates or your manager, it’s to millions and millions of people who exist by the results of your work.
“I’d never been in a situation where I doubted myself but slowly it creeped in. I thought opening up would be considered a weakness and weakness is something we don’t want in this team.
“It was so weird, I felt ‘I’m done for, I can’t do this anymore.’”
Schmeichel on Man Utd’s treble win
Despite the reservations about his career, Schmeichel didn’t retire after his time with United and left Old Trafford in 1999 and went to play for Sporting CP.
The former Denmark international returned to England after his spell with Sporting CP and played for Aston Villa and Manchester City before his retirement.
Schmeichel previously opened up on the difficulty of completing a treble season at United and how Arsenal “were one of the best teams” he played against.
“Whenever the luck was distributed it always fell our way,” he told the Evening Standard in 2019.
“You will not get anywhere if you are not a great team. It’s simple. If you are not a good team you will never get to the final day of the Premier League season or the final of the FA Cup.
“But we were competing against Arsenal. Arsenal were one of the best teams I ever competed against.
“Man for man we were the same. We had the same strengths. We were different players, but the same strength, height, quality in every position. I think to this day there was nothing between us. Really, I don’t think there was.
“We just had two breaks in the [FA Cup] semi-final. [Dennis] Bergkamp missed a penalty and Ryan’s [Giggs] goal.
“That’s the difference in 180 minutes of high intensity, very dramatic football. So that’s my point. Everything, when we needed it to, it fell our way and that’s important.”
