5 times Manchester United pulled off a miraculous comeback

#3 Tottenham Hotspur 3-5 Manchester United – September 29th, 2001

Roy Keane once claimed that Alex Ferguson’s entire team talk prior to a game against Tottenham went something like this: “Lads, it’s Tottenham....” This was of course in reference to Spurs’ apparent soft underbelly, but during this game, in the 2001/02 season, it appeared that Ferguson had got that idea very wrong.

Spurs raced into a 3-0 lead in the first half, tearing United apart to send White Hart Lane into rapture. Goals from new signing Dean Richards, Les Ferdinand and Christian Ziege appeared to have United on the ropes, and a comeback simply didn’t seem possible.

But when the second half began, it was clear that United were a very different team to the one they’d been in the first half.

Ferguson made some key changes – sending on Mikael Silvestre in place of Denis Irwin to add pace to the left flank and replacing Nicky Butt with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, meaning United now had a three-man attack.

When Andy Cole scored within a minute of the restart, it was clear that the comeback was possible, and 10 minutes later Laurent Blanc headed home a David Beckham corner to make it 3-2. On 72 minutes the comeback was complete as Ruud Van Nistelrooy scored another header, but somehow better was to come.

On 76 minutes, Paul Scholes combined with Solskjaer to send Juan Veron through on goal, and the Argentine slotted home with his left foot. Finally, with 3 minutes to go, Beckham scored a right-footed goal to leave no doubt as to who the superior side was.

After the match, Ferguson refused to reveal exactly what he’d said to his side at half-time – but whatever it was, it had inspired one of the all-time great comebacks.