On August 24, 1949, the second game of the Premier League is played. Manchester United hosts Bolton Wanderers and, after 8 years of darkness, there is a light at the end that can be seen. Not too far away, because the Red Devils find Old Trafford, the stadium of dreams, after the bombings of the Second World War. Because if it is true that the stadium has been the home of United since 1910, for a fairly long period of time there was no possibility of using it. On March 11, 1941, Manchester was bombed, as was the Trafford district, where the stadium that was once home to Matt Busby, George Best, Alex Ferguson and Cristiano Ronaldo stands.
After the conflict, the Manchester Reds were forced to play their home games in exile, playing their matches at Maine Road. Manchester City’s stadium, that of their “noisy” neighbors as Ferguson has recently dubbed them. It would be impossible to think of it now, unless there were another bombing like the one Shakhtar Donetsk saw in their Donbas Arena, forced to move to Kharkiv first and then Kiev, especially from February 2022 onwards.
Bolton were the perfect sparring partner, as the 41,748 fans who filled Old Trafford saw a 3-0 win with goals from Mitten, Rowley and an own goal.