By Keith Pike

The Times
January 19 1998

He was permitted 19 minutes and enjoyed ten touches of the ball, which was as many as it was taking some of his merely mortal colleagues to bring it under control. The fifth of them might even have proved the match-winner, his goal-bound header rebounding off a defender, but, as Alan Shearer admitted: “I think that would have been asking too much.” There is, after all, only so much ecstasy one player can provide and 35,000 supporters can take.

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