George Best, a nightmare for rival defenders and goalkeepers (Sportskeeda)
Few times a surname has made a player greater honor. George Best was one of the best football players (for many the best) of the history of Manchester United and also occupies a privileged position among the great players of all time.
Today we would like to rescue one of the most legendary performances of his career. It happened in a fifth round match of the FA Cup in the year 1970 between Manchester United and the Northampton. That day, the footballers of the ‘shoemaker team’ they conscientiously prepared one of the most important games of their careers to try to stop one of the great stars of the 'Red Devils', George Best.
GEORGE BEST ‘EL QUINTO BEATLE”
The pitch was not in the best condition, very muddy, something that was quite common in those times and that, in theory, He favored the weakest team and put the more technical footballers in difficulties, as was the case of the Northern Irishman. Nothing is further from reality. The end result says it all. United destroyed their rival by a forceful 8-2 Y George Best was the author of six goals giving a real recital on the pitch.
What happened that afternoon had a great impact on several footballers of the Northampton who made public statements of what they felt that day in different media or years later in an autobiographical book.
Kim Book, the goalkeeper who conceded that scandalous win, said: “Best was too good for me. In one of the goals he made me a feint feigning to the side, left me lying on the floor and dialed an empty door. His quality was humiliating. If one day I'm on one side of the street and he nods at me from the other, I hide under a bus”.
Meanwhile, the defender John Clark said: “The only thing I saw throughout the game was George's rear end disappearing into the distance”. By last, surely the most shocking statement of all was signed Ray Fairfax, the one in charge of marking the man to Best: “All i thought was, why? Why does this have to happen to me? The only time I was close to him in the whole game was at the end when we shook hands”.
