118th season in existence of Manchester United
Manchester United 1999–2000 football season
The 1999–2000 season was Manchester United's eighth season in the 🫰 Premier League, and their 25th consecutive season in the top division of English football.[1] United won the Premier League title 🫰 for the sixth time in eight seasons (with a record 18-point margin and 97 goals scored) as well as becoming 🫰 the first English club to win the Intercontinental Cup when they defeated Palmeiras in Tokyo. However, they surrendered their Champions 🫰 League title with a 3–2 defeat by eventual champions Real Madrid in the quarter-finals. The club controversially did not defend 🫰 their FA Cup crown, upon request by The Football Association, to compete in the inaugural FIFA Club World Championship in 🫰 Brazil instead.[2]
Mark Bosnich, previously at United as a reserve goalkeeper from 1989 to 1991, returned to the club as Peter 🫰 Schmeichel's successor, but failed to live up to expectations and in September, the club swooped for Italian Massimo Taibi to 🫰 provide competition for him. However, Taibi suffered some high-profile mistakes and returned to his homeland at the end of the 🫰 season after just four games for the club. As the season wore on, long-time reserve goalkeeper Raimond van der Gouw 🫰 was increasingly called on as the starting goalkeeper, and proved a fairly reliable performer, but at 37 years old as 🫰 of the end of the season, it was clear that he would not be a long-term solution. United then solved 🫰 the goalkeeping crisis by paying AS Monaco £7.8 million for Fabien Barthez. Also new to the squad for 1999–2000 were 🫰 French defender Mikaël Silvestre and South African winger Quinton Fortune. Jesper Blomqvist and Wes Brown missed the entire season due 🫰 to injury, while similar misfortune restricted defenders David May and Ronny Johnsen to three first-team appearances between them. Jordi Cruyff 🫰 left the club on a free transfer to Deportivo Alavés at the end of the season, seeing out his four-year 🫰 contract at a club where he had failed to claim a regular first-team place.
Pre-season and friendlies [ edit ]
FA Charity 🫰 Shield [ edit ]
Date Opponents H / A Result F–A Scorers Attendance 1 August 1999 Arsenal N 1–2 Yorke 37' 🫰 70,185
UEFA Super Cup [ edit ]
Date Opponents H / A Result F–A Scorers Attendance 27 August 1999 Lazio N 0–1 🫰 14,461
FA Premier League [ edit ]
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions
Notes: Source: 🫰 Premier League Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.ChampionsNotes:
^ winners. Chelsea qualified for the 🫰 UEFA Cup as FA Cup
League Cup [ edit ]
Date Round Opponents H / A Result F–A Scorers Attendance 13 October 🫰 1999 Round 3 Aston Villa A 0–3 33,815
UEFA Champions League [ edit ]
Group stage [ edit ]
This home kit was 🫰 only used for European and FIFA matches.
Second group stage [ edit ]
Date Opponents H / A Result F–A Scorers Attendance 🫰 Group position 23 November 1999 Fiorentina A 0–2 36,002 3rd 8 December 1999 Valencia H 3–0 Keane 38', Solskjær 47', 🫰 Scholes 70' 54,606 2nd 1 March 2000 Bordeaux H 2–0 Giggs 41', Sheringham 84' 59,786 2nd 7 March 2000 Bordeaux 🫰 A 2–1 Keane 33', Solskjær 84' 30,130 1st 15 March 2000 Fiorentina H 3–1 Cole 20', Keane 33', Yorke 70' 🫰 59,926 1st 21 March 2000 Valencia A 0–0 40,419 1st
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification 🫰 1 Manchester United 6 4 1 1 10 4 +6 13 Advance to knockout stage 2 Valencia 6 3 1 🫰 2 9 5 +4 10 3 Fiorentina 6 2 2 2 7 8 −1 8 4 Bordeaux 6 0 2 🫰 4 5 14 −9 2
Knockout phase [ edit ]
Date Round Opponents H / A Result F–A Scorers Attendance 4 April 🫰 2000 Quarter-final
First leg Real Madrid A 0–0 64,119 19 April 2000 Quarter-final
Second leg Real Madrid H 2–3 Beckham 64', Scholes 🫰 88' (pen.) 59,178
Intercontinental Cup [ edit ]
Date Opponents H / A Result
F–A Scorers Attendance 30 November 1999 Palmeiras N 1–0 🫰 Keane 35' 53,372
FIFA Club World Championship [ edit ]
Group stage [ edit ]
Squad statistics [ edit ]
^ [3] Clubs had 🫰 to submit a 23-man squad to compete in the 2000 FIFA Club World Championship , who all had to be 🫰 numbered between 1 and 23. Some players had to be assigned a different squad number specifically for the competition. ^ 🫰 Rachubka was not assigned a number for the rest of the season.
Transfers [ edit ]
No players left Manchester United in 🫰 the 1999 summer transfer window.
On 21 August, South African midfielder Quinton Fortune signed from Atlético Madrid for a fee of 🫰 £1.5 million. Also arriving were Italian goalkeeper Massimo Taibi and French defender Mikaël Silvestre. All three players had slightly different 🫰 careers at United and all stayed at United for a different number of seasons: Fortune spent seven years at Old 🫰 Trafford, and his career was mixed; Taibi turned out to be a major flop and left after just one season; 🫰 Silvestre left in 2008 and had a successful career with United.
United's only winter departure was Norwegian Erik Nevland, who returned 🫰 to homeland club Viking Stavanger after two seasons. Richard Wellens departed on 23 March to Blackpool for a nominal fee. 🫰 John Curtis joined Blackburn Rovers on 31 May for a fee of £1.5 million, while Michael Twiss joined Port Vale 🫰 on 30 June on a free transfer.
No players joined United in the winter transfer window, but on 21 May, French 🫰 goalkeeper Fabien Barthez was acquired.
In [ edit ]
Out [ edit ]
