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So like, I was sitting around yesterday thinking, man I wanna see every single game Man United played against Twente. You know, that Dutch club? Felt like digging into some old footy history.
How it started… badly
First thing I did? Grabbed my laptop and smashed “Man Utd vs Twente all matches” into Google. Total mess. What I got back was just… nonsense. Old news articles about one random game, some dudes arguing on forums about lineups, zero useful lists. Felt like hitting my head against a brick wall. Sites were garbage:
- Couldn’t find kickoff dates
- Final scores hidden unless you clicked 10 links
- Kept showing me irrelevant friendlies
Closed the browser after like 20 minutes. NEVER trusting simple searches again. Needed a real plan.
Switching gears (aka getting serious)
Okay, plan B time. Figured those big football stats sites MUST have this stuff hidden somewhere. Went straight to the United section on one (won’t say which, rules are rules). Started brute forcing it:
- Scrolled through each dang season one-by-one, starting from the 70s
- Clicked every single European competition year hoping Twente was there
- Stared at tiny text lists of fixtures till my eyes blurred
Took ages. Seriously, spent like two hours just hunting through the wilderness of their crappy navigation. Found a couple of UEFA Cup ties from, what, 1977? 78? Finally got a lead.
The Spreadsheet Trap
Got smart. Opened up Sheets. Thought “Right, I’ll list every single one properly.” Made columns:
- Date
- Competition
- Home/Away
- United Score
- Twente Score
Started filling it in… disaster struck. Typed “FC Twente” everywhere. Looked back later, realized for like half the older games they were called “Twente ’65” or some nonsense. Had to redo it all. Got mad at myself. Dumb mistake.
The Grind & The Win
Pushed through. Kept clicking, kept typing. Went season by season, competition by competition:
- Found those old UEFA Cup legs in the late 70s
- Tracked down the 2008/09 Champions League qualifiers (took forever!)
- Double-checked venues and scores on like three different sources cos some of them disagreed! Felt like detective work.
Before I knew it, 7 hours had vanished. My wrist hurt, eyes were fried. But then I scrolled back to the top of my sheet.
There it was. One clean timeline. Every single official match United ever played against Twente. From the first clash back in November ’77 at Old Trafford (4-0, btw) all the way to the last meetings in that CL qualifier saga in ’08.
Felt stupidly proud hitting save. What a journey. Would I do it again? Probably not, my eyes still sting. But hey, it’s done! Now I really know our history against them. Every win, draw, goal. Done.