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| Manchester United and Scotland soccer great, Denis Law dies at 84 | | |  Agencies
LONDON, Jan 19: Denis Law, the Manchester United and Scotland great, has died. He was 84.
The death of Law, the only Scottish player to win the Ballon d'Or, was announced by his family through United on Friday. In 2021 he was diagnosed with dementia.
"It is with a heavy heart that we tell you our father Denis Law has sadly passed away. He fought a tough battle but finally he is now at peace," the statement read.
"We would like to thank everyone who contributed to his wellbeing and care, past and much more recently. We know how much people supported and loved him and that love was always appreciated and made the difference."
Law is forever linked with Bobby Charlton and George Best, the three-pronged strike force that led United to English league titles in 1965 and '67 and the European Cup in 1968 - a first for an English club.
"Everyone at Manchester United is mourning the loss of Denis Law, the King of the Stretford End," United said in a statement. "With 237 goals in 404 appearances, he will always be celebrated as one of the club's greatest and most beloved players. The ultimate goal-scorer, his flair, spirit and love for the game made him the hero of a generation."
Law, Charlton and Best would be voted as European footballer of the year and win the Ballon d'Or in a five-season period from 1964-68. They are united in a statue at Old Trafford. Law is the only player with two statues at the stadium: He stands solo on the Stretford End concourse, naturally.
Law's 46 goals in the 1963-64 season remains a single-season record for United. His 237 goals for the club are bettered by only Charlton and Wayne Rooney, though his goals-per-game ratio is higher.
However, a goal he scored against United is arguably his most famous. In one of the last games of his career, Law was playing for Manchester City - where he had two spells - at Old Trafford in United's next-to-last game of the 1973-74 season.
His late goal, with an audacious back-heel flick he insisted was "a fluke," meant United lost 1-0 and helped to ensure its relegation to the second division just six years after being European champion.
Law did not celebrate his goal and was substituted with head bowed as United fans invaded the pitch before the game restarted.
His 30 goals for Scotland are matched by only Kenny Dalglish, though was achieved in just 55 games compared to Dalglish's 102.
UEFA was one of many to react to Law's death. On X it wrote, "On behalf of European football we are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Denis Law. One of Scottish football's true greats."
A player who would become fondly referred to as "The Lawman," Law left his northern Scotland hometown of Aberdeen as a skinny 15-year-old with poor eyesight. He became a feared penalty-area predator and a pioneer in a modernizing world of European soccer.
By the age of 22, both United and City paid English-record transfer fees to sign Law, and he had played one season in Italy - an exotic change of culture at that time, though he disliked the defensive nature of Serie A.
He returned from Torino in 1962 to begin an 11-year stint at Old Trafford that helped re-establish United as an international power under manager Matt Busby.
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