Bobby Charlton is one of only 9 players to have ever had a "glorious collection" of the highest titles at the individual, club and national team levels - that is, having enough "Golden Ball" and the championship titles of the C1/Champions League, World Cup. People often mention the 1966 World Cup when talking about him. That is the only championship that the England team has won in a major tournament. Charlton is also a mainstay, shining when MU became the first English club to win the European C1 Cup. Charlton's record of 49 goals for the England team was only recently broken by Wayne Rooney and Harry Kane, in an era when the number of times the stars were recruited has skyrocketed to numbers that no one dared to imagine when Charlton was playing...
Sir Bobby Charlton is a legend of Manchester United and English football.
In fact, talking about Charlton by just listing his achievements is never enough. In short: he is the greatest monument of all time in the homeland of football, for many reasons. In addition, Bobby Charlton is also an icon, recalling major events in the history of football, both inside and outside the profession.
One of the most notable events was the Munich air disaster in 1958. On the way back from Belgrade after a European Cup match, the plane carrying the Manchester United team crashed during a failed take-off in Munich. At the time, Manchester United had such a fantastic young force, dubbed the "Busby Babes", that observers predicted that within a few years, they would dominate European football, not just their home country. But eight players, more than half of whom had played for their national teams when they were still in their twenties, died. Some stars, such as Jackie Blanchflower or Johnny Berry, survived but never played football again after the mental shock.
Charlton was different. He was saved by his teammate Harry Gregg, and then became the "core" player when Coach Busby rebuilt MU "from the rubble". It was unbelievable: MU won the English championship quite quickly, and exactly 10 years after the Munich disaster, they became the first English club to win the European Cup 1!
It is certainly an iconic story, but it is just one of many examples when outlining Charlton's major characteristics. He and his Manchester United teammates won the European Cup at club level in a period when European football was almost completely dominated by the technical Latin school (Italy, Spain, Portugal). English football was all "run and shoot". They played a lot, but mainly crossed and headed. High entertainment, but low technical quality (we are talking about the 1960s). Charlton was different. He was an attacking midfielder, excellent passer, dense tactical thinking and had a fantastic long-range shot. He is considered the greatest player the land of football has ever produced because of such strange details. England revered Charlton while mainland Europe had to respect him, because of qualities that English football seemed to lack.
At Old Trafford, a stand is named after him, Sir Bobby Charlton.
While Charlton was shining in the England team, a young star appeared in Germany, who later became known as the "emperor". Yes, that was Franz Beckenbauer - a midfielder at the beginning, later famous in the role of libero. Charlton and Beckenbauer directly competed in the 1966 World Cup final. The result: the rising star and the shining star both appeared to be dim, barely making any difference throughout the match. It was inevitable, because they were both good at... neutralizing each other. They both played very tightly, without a single mistake. And they both became zero. Charlton and Beckenbauer caused a controversy, and later the experts agreed: if there was a perfect match in all aspects, it would have to be 0-0, absolutely no mistakes, even though it would be a match... no one wanted to watch. It can also be said that Charlton contributed to changing the way football researchers think, redefining the king of sports, through this story.
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