30 years ago today Newcastle United battered Premier League champions Manchester United 5-0 in an iconic game at St James' Park - which included an even more iconic goal!

It's around 4.40pm on a damp Sunday afternoon in October. A big Belgian strides forward menacingly looking to apply the final blow to a wounded, battered beast.

Instead of swinging the axe violently, however, he produces a delicate piece of artistry that will go down in folklore. The final act of humiliation on a bitter rival.

The 30th anniversary of Newcastle United's stunning 5-0 win over Manchester United has brought back great memories, none more so than for Phillipe Albert. The Magpies centre half back in 1996 delivered the coup de grace on Sir Alex Ferguson's side, completing a revenge mission in the most beautiful manner.

Here, speaking to speaking via casino26.ch to Chronicle Live, Albert relives that 'glorious' moment - how it felt at the time, the story behind the revenge and his place in Newcastle history.

I remember you taking one more touch with your left and Schmeichel advanced. At what point did you know you were going to chip him? And did you just think and just know as soon as you hit it; that's a goal

When I controlled the ball, I think the ball was from Rob Lee, who played a one-two with Batty. As soon as I controlled the ball, my first touch, I knew that I would try a chip because Schmeichel was always coming off his line to reduce the angle.

Schmeichel was, at the time and for so many years, by far the best goalkeeper in the world with Denmark and with Man United. He was a great goalkeeper who was very clever and when a player had the ball around the box, he was always coming off his line to reduce the angle.

Having watched Man U a lot of times because it was a joy even for us to watch Cantona, Keane, Beckham, Scholes, Giggs - it was a joy to see them play in the Premier League or in Europe. I always watched Schmeichel coming off his line to reduce the angle and to take the ball very easy.

On the day, after my first touch, I knew I would try a chip and it worked, but you always have to be a little bit lucky to do that type of chip.

There was nothing luck about that, Philippe - it was perfection

It depends because if you miss your trick and it doesn't work, you look like a fool! You have to have a little bit of luck.

I used to train that type of chip in training, against Shaka and Pavel. When you speak to Beresford, Rob Lee, even to Shearer, I used to do that type of thing during the training sessions.

I was not very good in front of goal, but I used to play midfield when I was a young kid and I was good in front of goal then!

I saw a lot of your goals, Philippe. You scored volleys and a lot of your goals for Newcastle, you hit so hard! This one was just so delicate, like a total football moment that the Dutch team would have been proud of

Yes, of course, Bergkamp, Van Basten, Cruyff, I've seen those types of goals, those chips from those players. I'm very proud of the goal, of course.

I scored plenty of goals for Newcastle. Some maybe more beautiful, technically more difficult. But the good thing is, it was Man U at the time, who was the best team in the world. I'm very serious because we twice finished second behind that team. But for me, coming second was like winning the Premier League.

Finishing second behind that team, that was very, very hard. We had to be very good every week to follow Man U. I spoke about some of their players, but they were fantastic players in every position.

In a weird way, I think Schmeichel deserved you chipping him . . . I remember the 1-0 at St James' Park where he saved the headers from Les with his arm - he was the star

Yes, I remember that game. It was in March 1996. They came and they won 1-0 at Newcastle at St James' with a Cantona goal. The first half, if it's not Schmeichel in the goal, it's 3-0 or 4-0 for Newcastle, and we would have been crowned champions.

Schmeichel, on the day, won the league for Man U. Unbelievable what he did in the first half.

I hit the woodwork with a free kick but, like I said, Schmeichel stopped everything. It's not Newcastle who lost the game, it's Schmeichel who won the game for Man U. With Cantona, of course. Eric was phenomenal during his period in England with Leeds and Man U. I always had plenty of respect for him because he was fantastic. He's a legend at Leeds, he's a legend at Man U. But Schmeichel on the day won the league for Man U. If we had won the game, they would never have come back.

He deserved that chip, didn't he? People of Newcastle needed that chip

Yes, of course! But it's not because in March when he stopped everything. In August, a few months later, in London at Wembley for the Charity Shield, we lost 4-0. We came back from Thailand and from Japan, we were very tired. It's not an excuse because Man U played a fantastic game and they beat us 4-0. The problem is, on the day, some players took the mick with us, you know about us.

And Keegan had the right words in October to motivate everybody. And we wanted to beat them, not because they were crowned champions the season before, but because of the Charity Shield, it hurt us a lot.

We had the chance to play a fantastic game on that day. It could have been 6-0, 7-0 or 8-0. We finished 5-0 and it's in the history of Newcastle United Football Club.

When you chipped Schmeichel, do you remember looking at his immediate reaction?

Yes, I saw him with his head looking in the air and with his arms, like he said; “what a goal, what a chip. I can't do anything about it.”

Yes, of course I remember it. I see that goal maybe 15, 20 times every season when it's the 20th October, people put it on social media.

Here in Belgium, they talk sometimes about that game, about that goal. It's always nice to see it and I'm proud to have done something like this against the best goalkeeper in the world and with a fantastic club like Newcastle United.

Did you chat to Schmeichel after the game or did you ever chat to him after?

No, we shook hands with everybody like we used to do. They came to our room in the players' lounge and we had a few drinks. I remember having drinks with Beckham and Giggs, I think with Roy Keane also.

As soon as the ref blew the final whistle, we didn't talk about the game, we had some drinks afterwards and they went back to Manchester and that was it.

That was the good thing in English football at the time. 90 minutes or more, you gave everything. Sometimes a bad tackle, sometimes great games, but after the final whistle, we shook hands and we go and have a beer together. That's the way football should be.

It's 30 years today since the game and the goal. Does it still feel like yesterday?

Yes, it still feels like yesterday. It will be like this until my last hour or my last day. I'm so proud.

That's the second or third time I'm talking about being proud because, when you do something like this for a club like Newcastle United against a club like Man Utd, you know you are that it is writing history. I wrote history on the day.

I don't like to talk like this, to talk like this about myself, because I'm not the guy who's going to say, yeah, I've done this, this or this, I don't like talking about the past, I don't like living with the past. But a moment like this... It's iconic.

And the commentary as well from Martin Tyler, ‘Philippe Albeeeert… absolutely glorious!’

The commentary from Martin Tyler is absolutely fantastic! You play football to have dreams and to live moments like this and I was lucky.

Thousands of players, they have good careers, but people don't remember them because they are not doing something special, but I was lucky enough on the day to do something special that day.