Shirt Stories: The Night Old Trafford Turned Blue

It’s a sight we’re used to. Waves of red Manchester United shirts bombing forward, 80,000 fans at Old Trafford willing the ball into the net with cries of “Attack, attack, attack!”

But one night in 2002, United’s classic red was replaced with deep blue for a home Champions League clash with Olympiakos – one of only two occasions they’ve not worn their traditional colours for a home fixture.

So with Ryan Giggs’ match-worn shirt from that night being auctioned as part of the Rod Thornley Collection, let’s delve into the story of how Old Trafford turned blue…

Out of the Blue: Man United vs. Olympiakos, 2002

For the fans who flocked to Old Trafford that night, it was all supposed to be routine – a first group-stage clash that United were expected to win.

But when the team took to the pitch wearing their blue third kit, the United faithful were nudged out of autopilot.

Cue confused looks and thousands of voices asking: “Why are we wearing blue?”

Juan Sebastián Verón adding a flash of South American colour with a sublime chip

Most in attendance had never seen anything but red shirts, white shorts and white socks emerging from the famous corner tunnel at the Theatre of Dreams.

Little did they know that hours before kick-off in the bowels of Old Trafford, referee Gilles Veissiere had a decision to make.

The Frenchman ultimately judged the red stripe on Olympiakos’ away shirt to be a serious clash with United’s home strip.

Olympiakos' away shirt alongside United's classic home shirt

You can judge for yourself whether it would have caused chaos on the pitch or if it was a case of overly officious officiating from the Frenchman…

The Barcelona Incident

As it happened, Sir Alex Ferguson’s trusted kit-man Albert Morgan had experience in exactly this situation from a Champions League encounter four years earlier.

In 1998, a visiting Barcelona side that included the likes of Rivaldo, Xavi, and Luis Figo arrived at Old Trafford with their famous blue and red stripes.

This too was deemed indistinguishable from United’s home shirt, with Giggs, Beckham, Scholes and Co. forced to don white, breaking a 100-year tradition of playing at home in red.

Giggs taking on Luis Enrique at Old Trafford in 1998

So with that Barça experience top of mind, Morgan scrambled to ready United’s blue third kit, with kick-off against the Greek champions fast approaching.

Different colour, same result

Kit controversy aside, Man United were at their thrilling best – and one of the legends of the Class of ‘92 was leading the charge.

Ryan Giggs was well on his way to becoming the club’s all-time appearance maker, but it was another 12 years before the Welsh wizard hung up his boots with an incredible 963 games to his name.

On this night and wearing this exact shirt, the Welshman tormented the Olympiakos defence, making run after run with and without the ball that the Erythrolefki defence were powerless to stop. 

United’s task was made easier by Brazilian Zé Elias’ reckless challenge on Verón in the first-half, a tackle that earned him a red card and gave the visitors an Olympian mountain to climb.

Giggs had already stabbed home the opener after good work from Paul Scholes on the right-hand side.

He would go on to be credited with the second goal of the game, despite his obvious cross for Scholes being deflected past a helpless Dimitrios Eleftheropoulos.

United would fall in the quarter-finals of the Champions League that season, but did go on to lift the Premier League trophy for an eighth time.

It was an achievement made possible, in part, by a draw at champions Arsenal in April 2003, another heated battle with the Gunners as the two teams traded league titles during a decade-long rivalry.

They wore this now iconic blue strip that day as was always intended - on the road.