Let's dedicate the week to Ole shall we? In the latest
INSIDE UNITED issue, Ole points out the his greatest moment in football was coming off after the Newcastle game in the 2006/2007 season. Now many would question his choice because this is a man who can arguably claim to have scored the most important and dramatic goal in the entire history of Manchester United-and we would therefore expect that to be his best moment in his career. Even without reading the magazine and finding out why he left out that Nou Camp goal, or that last minute winner against Liverpool, or the 4 goals against Nottingham Forest and Everton, or the last minute winner against Portsmouth in the FA Cup or even his debut against Blackburn in August 1996,or his comeback appearance and goal after 3 seasons out in a 3-0 win over Charlton in 2006, I've decided to take a good guess. Solsjaer, despite his harmless looks and humble style, has ever been red-carded while playing for Manchester United(hard to believe eh?). United were playing against Newcastle and were being held(well given the run of play at the point, we were holding them.) Newcastle suddenly on counter attack with time running out, catch United flat-footed and in a bid to stop the move, the Baby-faced assassin, for lack of a better word, hacks down a Newcastle player--a two footed challenge from behind to the naked eye in real time, but attempted murder in slow motion replay. The ref duly flashed the red-card and lip readers could tell easily that Ole, on his way off, told David Beckham,
"I had to do it...."
And boy did he have to! The game ended 1-1 but in all fairness that point United gained was down to the selflessness of Ole. He had sacrificed himself for the sake of the team.
Flash forward to 2006/07 season. Ole had returned from a career threatening knee injury but for some reason Fergie started him in the league fixture against Newcastle at Old Trafford. Ronaldo launched one of his bullet efforts at Given but the shot bounced off the post straight to the feet of Ole who didn't need to have his eyes open to score. A few minutes later and Vidic shoots at goal from a corner but the ball takes a telling deflection from Ole's boot and its 2-0 to United. Call it revenge or whatever but he must have felt a bag of satisfaction as he had taken the chance to banish those memories of the red card.
Even after all this narration, some might still feel Ole should have picked the '99 Nou Camp goal-But again we think,
That is Solsjaer, never wanting to shower praise and glory on himself...
A Saint if you ask me...
