16 October 1968 - United Gets Taken To School

On 16 October 1968, Estudiantes won the Intercontinental Cup, beating Manchester United over a contentious two-legged final.

By winning the previous season's Copa Libertadores, Estudiantes earned the right to face Manchester United, the reigning European Cup champions. They met for the first leg in Buenos Aires on 25 September, with the hosts eking out a narrow 1-0 victory in a match that saw United midfielder Nobby Stiles get ejected and striker Bobby Charlton receive a blow to the head that required stitches.

Despite that result, United were favorites going into the second leg at Old Trafford three weeks later, where a crowd of 63,500 gathered for the event. But they quickly fell behind when Estudiantes forward Juan Ramón Verón scored in just the seventh minute. The situation grew worse for United when striker Denis Law received an injury and had to come off in the 43rd minute, replaced by Carlo Santori.

Tempers flared in the second half as both teams had a player ejected--George Best for United and José Medina for Estudiantes--in the 88th minute. Willie Morgan drew the home team level in the 89th minute, but they could not find another goal and Estudiantes won on points.

16 October 1968 - United Gets Taken To School

On 16 October 1968, Estudiantes won the Intercontinental Cup, beating Manchester United over a contentious two-legged final.

By winning the previous season's Copa Libertadores, Estudiantes earned the right to face Manchester United, the reigning European Cup champions. They met for the first leg in Buenos Aires on 25 September, with the hosts eking out a narrow 1-0 victory in a match that saw United midfilder Nobby Stiles get ejected and striker Bobby Charlton receive a blow to the head that required stitches.

Despite that result, United were favorites going into the second leg at Old Trafford three weeks later, where a crowd of 63,500 gathered for the event. But they quickly fell behind when Estudiantes forward Juan Ramón Verón scored in just the seventh minute. The situation grew worse for United when striker Denis Law received an injury and had to come off in the 43rd minute, replaced by Carlo Santori.

Tempers flared in the second half as both teams had a player ejected--George Best for United and José Medina for Estudiantes--in the 88th minute. Willie Morgan drew the home team level in the 89th minute, but they could not find another goal and Estudiantes won on points.

16 May 1968 - Estudiantes Were Quick Learners

On 16 May 1968, Estudiantes beat Palmeiras in a playoff to win the first of three consecutive Copa Libertadores trophies.

They qualified for the tournament--their first--by finishing as runners-up in the Argentina Primera División behind Independiente. But they beat their league rivals twice in the cup's first round and twice more in the second on their way to the final.

There, they met Palmeiras in what was scheduled as a two-legged tie, home and away. Estudiantes won the first match, played in La Plata on 2 March, by the score of 2-1, but lost the second 3-2 in São Paulo to set up a playoff at the neutral venue of Montevideo's Estadio Centenario.

There, a crowd of 55,000 turned out to see Estudiantes take a 1-0 lead with a goal from forward Felipe Ribaudo in the 13th minute. Their defense managed to stifle the Palmeiras attack, which included Tupázinho, the tournament's leading scorer with 11 goals, then Estudiantes forward Juan Ramón Verón delivered an 82nd-minute strike to seal the 2-0 victory.

Estudiantes followed the win by beating Manchester United in that year's Intercontinental Cup, then repeated as Copa Libertadores champions in 1969 (over Nacional) and 1970 (over Peñarol). In 2009, they won it for a fourth time, beating Cruzeiro.