Dundee Utd v Manchester Utd 1984 : VIDEO

When Manchester United saw the draw for the last sixteen of the 1985 UEFA Cup, there can be little doubt that the scale of the challenge ahead of them. Dundee Utd v Manchester Utd was going to be a difficult tie to predict.

Their opponents Dundee United had been the champions of Scotland two seasons earlier. And during the previous season, they’d reached the semi-final of the European Cup. That was a controversial defeat to AS Roma , with persistent rumours of match-fixing in the air.

Make no bones about it, the Dundee United team of the mid-1980s were a formidable opponent.

Manchester United’s league season hadn’t begun that impressively. They began with four consecutive draws although they didn’t lose in the league until the first week in October.

Despite the less-than-exciting start Manchester United went into this match in third place in the table. Only Everton and Tottenham Hotspur would be placed above them.

It proved to be an extraordinarily tight tie, settled just 15 minutes from the end of the second leg at Tannadice Park. Dundee Utd v Manchester Utd had turned into the classic tie everyone predicted it would be.

When Arnold Muhren scored in the 75th minute it was the first time in either leg that the outcome of the tie looked determined. Dundee United would need to score twice in 15 minutes because of Manchester United’s 3 away goals to progress. A task too far.

Following their two-legged victory, Manchester United would go on to reach the semi-finals of the competition. Ron Atkinson’s United surprisingly lost to Videoton after a penalty shoot-out.

Dundee United would be back in this competition two seasons later, losing agonisingly to IFK Gothenburg in a two-legged final.