Bobby Charlton was performing his national service in Shrewsbury when Manchester United played their first home European tie. He got a lift up to Maine Road (Old Trafford’s first set of floodlights was still being installed) with a Sgt-Maj White and watched enthralled as Matt Busby’s young side beat Anderlecht 10-0 to complete a 12-0 aggregate victory. In the mess the next day, Charlton found it almost impossible to convince people that United had been brilliant: 10-0, they insisted, was a measure less of United’s excellence than of how weak the Belgian champions must be.
That’s the problem with emphatic victories: they can almost devalue themselves – particularly when they come in circumstances of relative unfamiliarity. Nobody doubted Germany’s 7-1 victory over the hosts in the semi-finals of the 2014 men’s World Cup was a stunning result because, however infected Brazil were by the hysteria of the occasion, however laughably they defended, they were still Brazil.
