Lee Sharpe on THAT Barcelona backheel - and why VAR has become football’s “biggest killer of joy”

There are certain goals that seem more impressive the more times you watch them. Lee Sharpe’s backheel against Barcelona at Old Trafford is one of them.

Manchester United. Barcelona. European football under the lights. Romário and Stoichkov on the other side. And Sharpe somehow improvising one of the most memorable finishes of his career.

Speaking exclusively to The Football Historian, Sharpe revealed that the goal was not some pre-planned piece of outrageous skill. In fact, his original idea was considerably more conventional.

“Obviously it was a huge game,” Sharpe said. “Old Trafford under the lights in Europe. United had never been beaten in Europe at home.

“We went 1-0 up and they came back and went 2-1 up.”

Then came the move. Paul Ince won the ball and Roy Keane went down the right.

“I’m thinking Keaney’s just going to square it,” Sharpe said. “So I’m thinking it’s going to come across to me.

“I’ve sort of run across the full-back and I’m thinking, ‘Just swing it with your right foot and hit the target.’”

Simple enough. Except the Barcelona defender had reached exactly the same conclusion.

“As the ball’s coming, the defender obviously thinks I’m just going to swing it with my right. So he slides in early to block any shot that I’m going to do.”

And that is when instinct took over.

“I sort of have to change my mind and let the ball run past the defender and through my legs, and then backheel it.

“Fortunately it went in the bottom corner.”

“Fortunately” is doing some fairly heavy lifting there. Most footballers could spend a week deliberately practising that finish and hit the advertising boards. Sharpe changed his mind midway through the move and backheeled it into the corner against Barcelona. Not bad.

Would modern football still allow a player like Sharpe to entertain?

That goal also feels like a good starting point for a wider question about the game Sharpe played and the one he watches now. Has football become too sanitised?

Sharpe believes some things have unquestionably improved. But entertainment? He's less convinced.

“I don’t think it’s quite as entertaining,” he said. “I’m probably a little bit biased.

“In my era it was sort of a 4-4-2 with two wingers, two centre-forwards, and the idea was to get the ball down the line, whip a cross in and for everybody to go and score goals.”

It's about as 1990s a tactical briefing as you could possibly imagine. Two wingers, two strikers, get it wide, cross it, someone head it and repeat.

No 47-page document about low blocks required. Sharpe believes modern football can spend too much time circulating possession.

“For me now, we watch too many centre-backs and too many back fours passing it across the back.”

And then there is another part of modern football that particularly irritates him. Players going down easily. Sharpe picked out Arsenal defender Gabriel as an example.

“Gabriel from Arsenal does my absolute nut in,” he said.

“Six-foot-five, strong, meathead centre-half, and as soon as someone puts a finger on his back he’s diving and falling over for free-kicks. It would never have happened with a centre-half in my day.”

Sharpe does NOT want a return to players being kicked off the pitch

This was not simply a “football was better in my day” rant, though. Sharpe acknowledged that protecting skilful players is important.

“I sort of agree with cutting some of the tackles out,” he said. “People pay to go and see the best players and the most entertaining players, and you don’t want to see them get kicked lumps out of and taken off the pitch injured.

“I believe there should be a bit of protection for them.”

His preferred balance? Protect the talent. But allow a tackle.

“I still think we could afford to see a few more tackles flying in.”

And then came perhaps the strongest line of the entire interview.

“VAR? I just hate VAR. I think it’s the biggest killer of joy in football that’s ever been invented.”

There will probably be quite a few supporters nodding at that one. Football is technically better coached than ever. Players are fitter. Tactics are more sophisticated. The analysis is extraordinary.

But football is also supposed to make you jump out of your seat. And when someone scores an improvised backheel against Barcelona, the first thought probably shouldn't be: Hang on, are they drawing the lines?

This interview with Lee Sharpe is part of my growing collection of exclusive former-player conversations for The Football Historian.

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