'Law's greatness will endure'

At Denis Law's first training session at Manchester United in 1962, Bobby Charlton approached the 22-year-old and told him how happy he was to see him at the club.

As Charlton recalled: "He gave me that sidelong, slightly quizzical smile that would become so familiar to me down the years. It was though a lot of the magic and the aura of the old United team had been conjured up at a single stroke."

George Best, Law, Charlton - the holy trinity in the Theatre of Dreams.

Best recalled once that Law could score goals from a hundredth of a chance, not to mind half a chance. He scored 29 in 44 games in his first season, including one in a victorious FA Cup final that he dominated.

The following season he scored 46 in 42 and won the Ballon d'Or. The season after, he scored 28 times as United won the league for the first time since the Munich air disaster.

In 1967, United won the league again - a mere warm-up routine for what was to follow in 1968.

Sadly, Law missed out on the glory of Wembley and the emotion of Sir Matt Busby's team winning the European Cup a decade after Munich.

He was injured for the semi-final and final. His body was beginning to fail. Cortisone injections were required more often to get him through.

On the night of the final he was in a Manchester hospital recovering from a knee operation. Busby arrived at his bedside the day after with the trophy.

Law recovered, scored 30 in 45 games in 1968-69, but the United force was about to fade.

Law's greatness will endure - through the generations and for all-time.