It's 3 p.m. on February 5th, 1958, in a football stadium in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

Bill Fokes glances up at the scoreboard that shows his team, Manchester United, are three-to-one

ahead against the

home team Red Star Belgrade. United already beat Red Star 2 to 1 in the first leg of their

quarterfinal, so as long as they win or play to a draw, they will have the better aggregate score

and proceed to the semifinals of the European Cup. As one of his team's defenders,

it's Bill's job to stop Red Star from scoring three more goals to level it up.

Bill is intensely focused as a Red Star player begins an attack,

launching the ball through midfield.

Bill backtracks, as the ball is passed to a Red Star forward,

Bill shadows him, who dribbles the ball into United's penalty area. But the Red Star player loses his footing and slips to the

ground, grabbing Bill's shirt and pulling him over. Bill picks himself up from the ground and tucks

his jersey back. He takes a step back, ready to take a free kick

to restart the game after his opponent's foul. But a Red Star player grabs the ball and gestures

toward the referee. Bill can't believe it. The referee has given the foul against him, saying he

tripped the Red Star player. Now Red Star have a penalty kick and a chance to add to their score.

The Red Star forward lines up, takes a few quick steps, then kicks, and the ball rockets past Harry Gregg,

the United goalkeeper. Bill trudges back to his position for the kickoff. United are still ahead

on aggregate score, but it looks like

they'll have to beat 11 opponent players and the referee if they're going to win this game.

The tense game against Red Star ends 3-3, meaning that Manchester United win 5-4 on aggregate

and go through to the semifinals of the European

...