I have so many different football memories but no other player left as much of a mark on me as Eric Cantona.
For all the goals and success and kung-fu kicks, it was actually a pass for which I will always remember him most fondly. I felt a particular resonance, then, when Cantona also mentioned this pass as being his sweetest moment at Manchester United in the film Looking For Eric.
It came on January 9, 1993 in a 4-1 win against Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford when he received the ball from Denis Irwin and then, spotting the full back making his run into the box, flicked the ball first time with the outside of his right boot so that it looped into the air, over the defenders. and perfectly into the path of Irwin to score. It was almost a stab of his right boot but had you dropped the ball with your hands in front of Irwin it could not have been more perfectly placed. That moment summed up everything about Cantona for me. I also cherish his response in the film when asked what if Irwin had missed. "You have to trust your team-mates, always," he said. "If not we are lost."
James Ducker
James is the Northern Football Correspondent of The Times newspaper, primarily covering Manchester United and Manchester City.
Follow James on Twitter @DuckerTheTimes
Memory added on May 16, 2013
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