Without being too disrespectful to Manchester United’s Europa League opposition, the reality of missing out on the Champions League knock out stages is set to bite when they run out for their game against FC Midtjylland.
The Danish champions’ 11,800 capacity MCH Arena is a far cry from the San Siros and Nou Camps that United teams of not-so-long ago might have been more used to visiting, and their opponents don’t boast the kind of illustrious name as a Bayern Munich or a Real Madrid.
When the draw was made for the Europa League knock-out stages, one of the most intriguing facts to pop up was that FC Midtjylland were only formed in 1999 – just a few months before United completed their historic treble.
As much as United might not quite be the force they once were, it’s incredible that a team that has only just turned 17-years-old is dining at the same footballing table as one of English football’s finest names.
With that in mind, we jotted down a list of stuff that was surprisingly older than FC Midtjylland. Here’s what we came up with.
MUTV
Manchester United’s own in-house TV station launched in 1998 – the year before FC Midtjylland.
Tomb Raider 3
Not only had Lara Croft been making computer gaming a little sexier since the mid nineties, by the time of Midtjylland’s formation, the third version of the game was already on the shelves.
The Euro
Okay, okay – some of you know-it-alls will be itching to tell us that the Euro didn’t come into play in note and coin form until 2002, and you’d be dead right. However, the Euro became available in non-physical form (traveller’s cheques, electronic transfers, banking, etc.) at midnight on 1 January 1999 – a good month ahead of United’s Europa League opponents.
Michael Owen’s goal against Argentina
Before people repeatedly made the same kind of jokes about his football commentary, Michael Owen actually played the sport. He also scored an impressive goal against Argentina at the 1998 World Cup which is over-hyped so much that people seem to forget that England actually lost the game.
Teletubbies
Blazing a trail for a new generation of truly weird kids TV, Tinky-Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa and Po were household names after bursting onto the scene in 1997.
Eric Cantona’s retirement
The catalyst that sparked a generation of success for United was, except for a cameo in the odd Nike commerical here and there, done with football having retired in 1997.
South Park
Having hit TV screens in 1997, Kenny had already been killed many times over before Midtjylland were created. In fact, the series had gathered so much momentum by that point that this song was topping the UK charts.
https://youtu.be/lnNYXgV7L-c
Martin Ødegaard
There’s been far more hype surrounding this Scandinavian 17-year-old. Ødegaard is on the books at Real Madrid, having been linked with every big club on the continent prior to his switch from Norway. He was already a couple of months old when Midtjylland started out life.
The Trafford Centre
United fans from Manchester (make your own jokes), will probably relate to being dragged around the shopping centre by the Mrs at some point in their lives. The Trafford Centre has now been open since September 1998.
Jaden Smith
Young Jaden Smith, son of actor and all round good guy Will, has achieved plenty in his 17 years on the planet, but hasn’t graced the Europa League knock out stages just yet.
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