Sir Bobby Charlton was a mesmerising midfielder for Manchester United, a World Cup winner with England and an all-round gentleman.
A key member of the Busby Babes and a survivor of the Munich air crash of 1958, a wonderful 17-year career at Manchester United dovetailed with a remarkable time with England, which peaked with World Cup glory in 1966.
His explosive playing style was underpinned by supreme balance and grace and, with a dip of the shoulder and thunderous shot in either foot, he scored spectacular goals.
“There has never been a more popular footballer. He was as near perfection as man and player as it is possible to be,” former United boss Sir Matt Busby said of Charlton.
The champion of the north west was a son of the north east, born in Ashington on October 11, 1937.
While his second cousin Jackie Milburn became one of the greatest players in Newcastle’s history and brother Jack joined Leeds, Bobby’s path led to Old Trafford.
Having impressed a United scout while playing for East Northumberland Boys on a frozen pitch at Jarrow, the shy 15-year-old who turned up at United in a green ankle-length raincoat would quickly flourish in red.
Having initially signed for the club on New Year’s Day 1953, he gave up an apprenticeship as an electrical engineer to turn professional in October 1954.
Charlton won the FA Youth Cup in three successive years up until 1956, when he made his senior league debut against Charlton on October 6, scoring twice in a 4-2 win.
It was the kind of display that set the tone for a remarkable club career which was in its infancy when Busby’s swashbuckling side won the First Division in 1957.
Tragically, the Busby Babes were cut off in their prime after their plane crashed on the runway in Munich as it attempted to take off in heavy snow, having stopped to refuel on the way back from a European Cup tie at Red Star Belgrade on February 6, 1958.
Seven of Charlton’s team-mates were killed, while an eighth, Duncan Edwards, died in hospital 15 days later.
Charlton, who was just 20 at the time, was dragged from the plane by goalkeeper Harry Gregg, having suffered head injuries.
He recuperated in hospital but was engulfed by terrible regret and sadness.
He wrote in his autobiography: “All the time the question came pounding in: ‘Why me, why did I survive?'”.
However, he chose to draw strength from those around him rather than submit to the impact of the catastrophe and somehow returned to action on March 1.
Busby returned to the helm after spending two months in hospital and United, with Charlton to the fore, managed to reach the FA Cup final less than three months after the tragedy, losing 2-0 to Bolton.
Two weeks before that he had marked his England debut by volleying home a Tom Finney cross against Scotland at Hampden Park.
Charlton would become integral to rebuilding the United team, with the FA Cup triumph of 1963 a catalyst which set the club on course for more success.
First Division titles arrived in 1965 and 1967, either side of the most famous moment in English football history.
Charlton likened playing at Wembley as a schoolboy to arriving in paradise – and his dreams came true there.
At the 1966 World Cup, he scored a stunning long-range strike in the group-stage win over Mexico and a brace in the semi-final defeat of Eusebio-inspired Portugal.
A quieter display followed in the final against West Germany, but it mattered not as England triumphed 4-2 after extra-time to be crowned champions of the world.
Charlton would also win the Golden Ball as player of the tournament, while he collected the Ballon d’Or and Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year award in 1966.
Wembley would witness another moment to cherish for Charlton two years later.
Part of United’s heralded ‘Holy Trinity’ alongside Denis Law and George Best, he scored twice in a 4-1 extra-time win against Benfica in the European Cup final as United became the first English champions of the continent.
That victory capped the post-Munich rebuilding, with Charlton, along with Bill Foulkes one of only two survivors of the tragedy in the team, opting out of post-match celebrations to remember those who died.
It proved the last major honour of a United career which spanned 758 games and featured 249 goals.
He made his 106th and final appearance for England in the 1970 World Cup quarter-final defeat to West Germany. Charlton, aged 32, was substituted after 70 minutes when England were leading 2-1. They went on to lose 3-2 in extra-time.
He left United in 1973, before working briefly as player-manager at Preston and a stint in Ireland with Waterford United.
A brief spell as director and caretaker manager of Wigan followed before returning to United in 1984 and becoming a club director – a position he held until his death, along with his ambassadorial role at the club.
Charlton continued to be a huge figure at United, greeting new players and watching them home and away with his wife, Lady Norma. The pair met at a Manchester ice rink in 1959 and married in 1961.
Away from sport, he founded the ‘Find A Better Way’ charity in 2011, having seen first hand the humanitarian damage caused by landmines on visits to Cambodia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The organisation’s goal is to help fund research and development for those teams ridding the world of the threat of landmines.
Awarded an OBE in 1969 and CBE in 1974, he was knighted in 1994 and given the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008.
Old Trafford’s South Stand carries his name and the statue of the ‘Holy Trinity’ watches over the ground where he made so many memories, having made the second most United appearances, behind Ryan Giggs, and scored the second most goals, behind Wayne Rooney.
Charlton’s 106 caps and 49 goals for England – he was his country’s record scorer until Rooney surpassed his mark in 2015 – will also never be forgotten, with a pitch at the St George’s Park training complex named after him in 2017.
Charlton, who has died at the age of 86 after being diagnosed with dementia, is survived by his wife and their daughters Suzanne and Andrea.
Penalty shootout victory over Brazil was winning in Uruguayan style, says Bielsa
Uruguay showed their character and the national team's "style" in their penalty shootout win over Brazil, so says Marcelo Bielsa.
Fifteen-time Copa America champions Uruguay progressed to the semi-finals at Brazil's expense with a 4-2 victory in the shootout after a 0-0 draw in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Uruguay, who have quickly adapted to Bielsa's full-throttle attacking approach, had to play out the last 20 minutes with 10 men after Nahitan Nandez was sent off for a lunge on Rodrygo.
It meant the usual offensive tactics had to make way for defensive ones, though from Nandez's red card onwards, Uruguay limited Brazil to just two attempts.
"Everything that happens, happens Uruguayan style, because the players are the ones that give their all to the team," Bielsa said.
"It was a match with very little goal opportunities, highly contested, very close, even with very little changes in possession.
"When we were one man down, we decided to dedicate ourselves to defending in our half.
"So holding on to that result as the Uruguayan team did shows the profile of Uruguayan football.
"They were very calm in the penalty shootout that demands not only accuracy but also character."
Uruguay have now kept three successive clean sheets, while they limited Brazil to 0.58 expected goals (xG), and their defensive resilience has pleased Bielsa.
"I am a bit more drawn to the offensive than the defensive game, but in a match that was as tight as this one, we created one more opportunity than our opponent and we defended well," Bielsa added.
"I do think that defensively, not because I achieved it but because the players are inherently good at defending, that they are very good at keeping a clean sheet."
This is the first time Uruguay have reached the semi-finals of the Copa America since the last time they won the trophy in 2011.
La Celeste had endured three consecutive quarter-final appearances without advancing, with two of those being decided by penalties (2019 and 2021).
Uruguay will face in-form Colombia, who hammered Paraguay 5-0, in the last four.
Dorival Junior urges patience with Brazil's rebuild after Copa America exit
Dorival Junior has asked for time to complete his revamp of the Brazil national team after the Selecao's Copa America exit.
Brazil, nine-time Copa America champions, lost 4-2 on penalties after a 0-0 draw with 10-man Uruguay in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Eder Militao and Douglas Luiz were unsuccessful from 12 yards, as a disappointing and often disjointed campaign for Brazil, who were without the suspended Vinicius Junior, came to a halt.
Dorival left out some big names for the tournament, while Neymar was absent through injury, and the coach, who was appointed in January, has reiterated the rebuild will require some patience.
He said: "We are undergoing a very important renovation or reinvention of this team.
"I have only coached this team for eight matches and this is a process that we have to go through.
"We are aware of the difficulties we will come across throughout the path, but we now lost a match in the knockouts and that wasn't what we expected."
Brazil are sixth in the South American qualification standings for the 2026 World Cup, and Dorival knows the Selecao must sharpen up.
"We have a lot of room to continue growing, evolving, improving and our main objective now is to qualify for the World Cup," he continued.
"Right now we are sixth in the standings, we are not comfortable with that."
Dorival did, however, point to Uruguay's rise back to form under Marcelo Bielsa as evidence that long-term projects can come to fruition.
"I think the Uruguayan national team has a pattern, a very well-defined pattern," he said.
"They have been working for a long time together. They had some problems at first, they corrected them.
"Now they are finding great results. I think we will achieve all that as well, not a doubt about it, but we need some time to make such corrections.
"We had some issues at the beginning of the tournament. I think we corrected plenty of mistakes.
"It is tough given the period of time that we had to work to try to speed up the process. I think we'll have some more time in the future."
Koeman: Netherlands proved they have heart in comeback win over Turkiye
Reaching the semi-finals at Euro 2024 proves just how much "heart" the Netherlands have, so says Ronald Koeman.
The Netherlands came from behind to beat Turkiye 2-1 on Saturday thanks to a header from Stefan de Vrij and Mert Muldur's own goal in Berlin.
That victory set up a semi-final clash with England in Dortmund on Wednesday.
And Koeman suggested his team have proved their doubters wrong with the spirit they have shown through their run to the last four.
"I think for the whole nation it's something special," he said, as quoted by The Athletic.
"We're a small nation and we're part of the semi-finals with England, France and Spain. We're really proud to have the opportunity to play it on Wednesday.
"It was a really emotional match and we had a big heart, and sometimes we get criticised about that, that we don't have that heart compared to other nations.
"The players showed it in the second half, and the last five minutes. You probably saw that better from the TV than I did from the bench. We had to suffer."
Some excellent goalkeeping from Bart Verbruggen and brilliant last-ditch defending from the Oranje as a team helped them keep Turkiye at bay after Muldur bundled into his own net under pressure from Cody Gakpo in the 76th minute.
De Vrij's equaliser was his first goal for the Netherlands since March 2015, and the centre-back is now relishing a meeting with England, who scraped past Switzerland on penalties.
"It definitely means a lot to us as a team," he said.
"First of all, to reach the semi-finals is great for us, but it’s not finished yet. From tomorrow we will start to prepare for this very important game.
"I think that England has a great team, they have so much quality, but so do we. The Netherlands against England is a very nice game and in the semi-final of the Euros? It'll be a great match."
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