Classic Match: Burnley 1-0 Manchester United 

With COVID-19 ruining the football, VAVEL Burnley takes a look back at one of the most memorable results in recent history for the Clarets.

Classic Match: Burnley 1-0 Manchester United 
(GettyImages - John Peters)
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By Kirshon Wilkins

With no football going on, we've decided to take a trip down memory lane highlighting many results that were huge for Burnley.

The 1-0 win against Manchester United, in 2009, marked the Clarets' first top-flight victory in 33 years.

Robbie Blake hit an unstoppable first-half volley as the Clarets learnt their lesson after an opening day defeat to Stoke City.

  • The Build-Up

Burnley came into this fixture off the back of a 2-0 away defeat to Stoke City.

This was only their second fixture of the 2009/10 season and Burnley were hoping to pick up a shock win against the reigning Premier League champions.

The Clarets had just been promoted from the Championship after winning their play-off final against Sheffield United despite finishing 5th.

Burnley were still unbeaten at home since 28 February 2009 where they lost 4-2 against Sheffield Wednesday.

  • The Match

Owen Coyle only made one change to the side that started against Stoke. Andre Bikey came in for Christian Kalvenes who was extremely poor against Stoke.

The formation remained the same. Coyle kept the 5-2-3 formation that consisted of Brian Jensen, Graham Alexander, Bikey, Clark Carlisle, Tyrone Mears, Stephen Jordan, Chris McCann, Wade Elliott, Steven Fletcher, Martin Paterson and Blake.

The first-half started brilliantly for Burnley as they converted the first chance of the game. Jordan lifted his cross to the back post and Patrice Evra headed clear only for Blake to fire a thunderbolt that flew into the roof of the net past Ben Foster.

The Clarets were feeling nervy after the goal when Michael Owen found Evra who was fouled by goalscorer Blake in the penalty box.

Blake's blushes were spared when Jensen saved the penalty from Michael Carrick which allowed Burnley to go into the break a goal up.

Man United's late pressure was expected but Burnley held on for the victory and secured their first win against The Red Devils since September 1968.

  • What happened next?

The scenes were ecstatic and joyous at Turf Moor after the Man United win. It's a shame that those scenes were far less common after that.

With the Clarets struggling to pick up points on the board, Coyle was sacked on 5 January 2010. Brian Laws was appointed shortly after that in a bid to survive in their relegation dogfight.

After a poor run in the cup competitions, Burnley should've improved in the Premier League and it just didn't come to fruition for them.

Laws made a few dodgy signings that no one had heard of and dragged the club back down to the Championship after just one season in the Premier League. 

However, the Clarets returned to the top-flight in the 2016/17 season after winning the Championship title in the 2015/16 season. Burnley have never looked back since.