Both sides went close in a goalless first half, before Manchester United took the lead from Bobby Charlton's header eight minutes into the second; however, Jaime Graça's 79th-minute equaliser meant the match went into extra time.

Manchester United then scored three times in seven minutes in the extra period; the first was a solo goal from George Best, followed by a header from Brian Kidd on his 19th birthday.

[5] Despite not qualifying, they were invited by UEFA to play in the following season's European Cup, but were forced to withdraw by the English Football Association.

[13] Returning to Portugal for the second leg, the first half also remained goalless, before two goals from Eusébio and another from José Torres made it 3–0 to Benfica, and secured their place in the semi-final,[14] where they faced Juventus of Italy.

Benfica played the first leg at home, and once again strikes from Eusébio and Torres helped them to victory; each scored during the second half to give their team a 2–0 lead in the tie.

They faced Maltese side Hibernians in the first round and won 4–0 in the home first leg; David Sadler and Denis Law scored two goals each.

[17] In the second leg, United suffered a "sad succession of near misses", according to a correspondent for The Guardian, as they struggled to adapt to the sandy pitch and the match finished as a goalless draw.

[19] Playing the first leg away from home, Manchester United narrowly avoided going behind in the 27th minute, needing a goal-line save to prevent a shot from Vahidin Musemić going in.

In the dying minutes of the game, Jimmy Ryan shot into a melee of players in the penalty area, including Brian Kidd, who backheeled the ball into the goal to make it 2–0.

[22] Playing on a snow-covered pitch in the second leg, Manchester United were forced to defend for most of the match,[23] but only conceded once, when Włodzimierz Lubański scored in the 72nd minute.

[27] Hugh McIlvanney of The Observer noted that although he believed United should be rated as favourites, some of their team were "undeniably ordinary players", and they had "an alarming vulnerability in defence" and "an excessive dependence on one or two men in attack.

"[28] The Lisbon-based newspaper A Bola reported after United's semi-final victory that "a meeting with Manchester is the worst thing that could have happened.

"[29] Manchester United had fitness concerns regarding Nobby Stiles, who had been suffering from a bruised knee, but he recovered in time to be included in the squad.

[33] The final was played at Wembley Stadium in London on 29 May 1968 and kicked off at 19:45 BST in front of a crowd of 92,225; in addition, there was an estimated European television audience of 250 million.

Benfica's three best chances on goal in the first half all came from Eusébio; the first was from a free kick, which deflected off the wall and drew a save from United goalkeeper Alex Stepney.

In the last five minutes of normal time, Eusébio had two chances on goal, drawing saves from Stepney, who was applauded for his efforts by the Portuguese forward.

[40] The win also marked the culmination of Manchester United's 10 years of rebuilding after the Munich air disaster; two of the team, Charlton and Foulkes, were survivors of the crash.