January was a defining month during a historic season for Roy ...

EVERYONE knows how the story ends; Manchester United defeated Bayern Munich in the Champions League final and the treble was won.

Everyone knows of Roy Keane and Denis Irwin and their role in one of the greatest ever seasons for an English team.

And everyone knows of how Sir Alex Ferguson made football history by doing something no one thought possible until the final few seconds of the 1998-99 season.

What escapes most retellings is the detail; the games that made one night at the Camp Nou possible.

January 1999 was the key month, as the squad refused to let post-Christmas fatigue get in their way of games in the FA Cup and the Premier League.

Those fixtures followed a festive fixture schedule involving eight games in 31 days. 

Manchester United captain Peter Schmeichel holds aloft the trophy flanked by Teddy Sheringham, right, and Denis Irwin. Picture: AP Photo/Camay Sungu

There was no let-up at the busiest time of year and Manchester United lost just twice, with the most damaging defeat being against Tottenham Hotspur in the EFL Cup at White Hart Lane.

Ferguson had no time for a deep dissection of those games. Manchester United just had to recover and go again, as there was more football to be played before the turn of the year.

By January, the FA Cup was on their agenda and so were fixtures with West Ham, Leicester City, and Charlton.

What helped Ferguson get games over the line was the presence of Keane, who talks about going through one of his best spells at Old Trafford that season in his autobiography.

“As the season progressed I began to play the best football of my life,” he explained. “This had much to do with the strength of the team around me. The defence was solid, with Gary Neville and Denis Irwin our full-backs and Jaap Stam and Ronnie Johnsen gelling as a central defensive partnership. 

In midfield Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and myself didn't lose many battles. David Beckham and Ryan Giggs provided threats of differing kinds from both flanks. 

"Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke became good mates off the field and a potent double act for opposing defences to cope with. In what was now becoming a squad game, Phil Neville, Ole and Teddy Sheringham were all major assets when called upon.” 

This was the core group, and they balanced everything with perfect precision. There was no Christmas hangover. 

Instead, Manchester United enjoyed a perfect month and it started with a 3-1 victory over Middlesbrough at Old Trafford.

Irwin got on the score sheet that day, and it helped set up a tie with Liverpool in the next round.

ON THE RISE

The Red Devils hosted their eternal rivals at Old Trafford on January 24 and they welcomed a team on the rise under Gérard Houllier; who took over on a full-time basis in November 1998 after previously working as a ‘Joint-Manager’ with Roy Evans.

The former France national team manager possessed a squad featuring Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Michael Owen, Steve McManaman and Robbie Fowler. 

The Reds time would come in 2001, with the first-ever cup treble in English football, but in 1999 they were desperate to break out from underneath Manchester United’s growing shadow over Anfield.

It looked like that was going happen when an unmarked Owen headed in with just three minutes on the clock. 

The home side were patient, and a reward came from a David Beckham free-kick that was broken down inside the area and Dwight Yorke forced the ball over the goal-line.

Manchester United drew level in the 88th minute and they kept going once the game restarted. 

Roy Keane of Manchester Utd breaks through. Picture: Ross Kinnaird/ALLSPORT

The players on the pitch fed off the energy in the stands and used it to set up Ole Gunnar Solskjær to score the winner.

To the ‘Baby-faced Assassin,’ that was one the moments which helped galvanise the group during the second half of the season.

"Those moments, I think they gave us the mental advantage… especially the semi-final but against Liverpool as well,” he told Sky Sports. "When you get that boost of turning 1-0 down to a 2-1 win, it was massive for us."

That gave Manchester United a habit and they used it to knock Chelsea and Arsenal out of the FA Cup before beating Newcastle United in the final.

All of this formed part of a larger story, which ended at the Camp Nou in May 1999. 

Irwin played but Keane didn’t as he was suspended for the final over a yellow card picked up in the second leg of the semi-final with Juventus at Turin.

The Manchester United captain still got a medal, and he got to embrace Irwin on the pitch at the home of Barcelona. 

The two Cork natives had done it, and all those results in the cold months of December and January paid off on a warm summers night in Barcelona.