“No, it doesn’t seem like yesterday,” laughs David Sadler as he is asked to reminisce about the events of 50 years ago next week, when Manchester United rightly became kings of Europe.

Indeed, the Manchester United hero of yesteryear had a good chuckle at the suggestion that time had just flown by since May ’68, as he went on to recall that winning run and the 90 minutes that took him and his team-mates to legendary status.

“Obviously, it’s never very far away,” he said of that 4-1 win over Benfica. “I don’t think any of us probably thought that when we won the trophy, that it would be a constant companion for us through the next 50 years – or until we are no longer here, I guess.

“But, that’s fine. Yes, it’s been fun, and a very good companion to have, having it as a topic of conversation in numerous places. We’ve got a lot of feelings for that cup and a lot of people have the same feelings for us, even now, which is nice,” Sadler

reflected.

Many neutrals wanted United to win that night, seeing it in some way as righting the most horrible wrong 10 years earlier. Yes, in a British context, Celtic had been first. But, the consensus then and since was that the disaster of Munich had denied the club, fans and those who perished, the ultimate prize far earlier.

Sadler, still just in his early 20s when his crack at the final came, says he never felt burdened by expectation, even as the tournament drew to a conclusion. That may have been because what had happened 10 years before would always stand alone.

“It had taken a while to get to the final, but remember, back then, you needed to win the title to get in to the Champions Cup, and that wasn’t easy. It was tough. Not like now when getting close gets you in. You had to be winners.

“But winning in ’68, it didn’t put everything right. Against the advice of most people, Matt Busby took United in to Europe. It wasn’t a popular decision for many, and Munich, in some circles, was almost seen as a slap on the wrist for taking United in to Europe.

“For the most part, the younger ones, and I include myself in that, Johnny [Aston], Bestie [George Best], we were just living our dream and there was no pressure. To be playing in a European final, it was a chance for us, for others, the chance to put right wrongs.

“But those wrongs … Munich was a huge thing. You can’t forget it, erase it, obliterate it. No matter what you do, it won’t go away, and you’ll never make it better, even in winning the European Cup. The two don’t level.”

From memory – and, despite his self-deprecating, Sadler’s is very good – he cannot recall any talk of the final, never mind winning, until after the semi-final. Probably with good reason. Down 3-1 at half time in the second leg at the Bernabeu to Real Madrid, with the aggregate score at 3-2, United were going out.

But Sadler scored to level the tie and then, coming through an unlikely source, they managed to advance to the final 4-3 on aggregate.

“Eventually mention was made of the final, and what it meant, after the game in Madrid, when Billy Foulkes [a survivor of Munich] scored – I mean, he went up for corners occasionally, and scored once or twice from memory, although I’m struggling to remember any! But to score from open play, that just never happened – and I think after that goal and the significance of it in

defeating Real, then we started to hear more about the anniversary, and it being 10 years since Munich.

“Only then, from my recollection, did we become more aware of the possible significance of the occasion being at Wembley.

Maybe it was chance, maybe fate, destiny, coincidence. But it was a definite plus to be there.

“It was a distinct advantage, no question. Wembley then was still for internationals and finals. You didn’t get to play there unless you were involved in one of those games. Bobby [Charlton], Nobby [Stiles], they’d have played there. For the rest, it was rare or new.”

Sadler had also played at Wembley for England that season, against Northern Ireland and Russia. But he had been there earlier.

“Although I came through every level of youth football, and while I must have been very close to getting selected, I missed out on playing for England schoolboys at Wembley. But I was still in Maidstone then, and the Kent Association were asked to provide the ball boys for one of the games, and I was picked. Strange how things eventually worked out.”

And things worked out well that night at Wembley for United, as it did from when he first arrived at Old Trafford, when he and others benefitted from a simple philosophy employed by Busby: if you were good enough, you were old enough.

“Youth football was always really important at United. The team that won the FA Youth Cup five times in the ’50s, that’s where the “Babes” came from. When I first signed, part of the talk was how they treasured their young players and the youth team.

“It is sometimes overlooked, the age of some of that cup-winning team. Kiddo [Brian Kidd] had come from nowhere, George [Best] and me were the same age [22], John Aston was a bit younger [20], and there were others who had come through the youth team with me, like John Fitzpatrick, the man from Aberdeen. We had a youthful streak in that team.”

But did he ever have to pinch himself playing, as he did, behind the likes of Charlton, Best and for most of the time, Denis Law?

“It was surreal. But more surreal since, if that makes sense. At the time, I never thought seriously or long enough about it,” he chuckles. “I was in the team, playing my part and didn’t think of it as being unusual or different. I think if you over-examine things and take it so seriously, someone will just take it from you. And I wasn’t going to let that happen.

“Everything was achievable, and I always thought that way. But when I look back at it now, it was pretty unbelievable.”

While Sadler has many memories of those 120 minutes against their Portuguese counterparts in London, one still sits up there with the goals of Charlton, Best and Kidd.

“We were at the Watford game the other week and they showed the highlights of the match, and the goals, and Alex Stepney’s save from Eusebio.

“My recollection was watching and waiting as this pass was made to Eusebio, waiting on him hitting it, seeing him draw back and letting fly, and Alex saving it, then the little exchange between the two, when Eusebio congratulated him and Alex just wanted to get the ball back in to play, “All of that took a very long time. But seeing it again last week, blink and you’ve missed it. It happened in a split second.

“Maybe the significance of that save – because it was a bit heart-in-mouth stuff, especially with it being Eusebio, and knowing what he was capable of after the World Cup, and that he rarely missed – maybe you take your timing from thinking it through and what the consequences could have been, rather than what the reality was.

“Alex has always joked that he had the reverse of ‘Mitre’ imprinted on his chest.”

A bit like United fans having this unique triumph imprinted on their memories.