Sir Bobby Charlton has relived the horror of the 1958 Munich air disaster which killed eight of his Man Utd team-mates.
Sir Bobby, 70, has rarely spoken of his guilt over surviving the crash, in which 23 people died.
But he tells Michael Parkinson tonight: "I thought, 'Why me? Why am I here with nothing happened to me other than a little gash on the head and all these other friends had been killed?'
"It was a momentous event, for so many young people to die on the verge of great success and I couldn't understand why."
The football legend was pulled from the wreckage by keeper Harry Gregg.
He says: "We walked away. But a few days later you realise the enormity of what happened."
Sir Bobby tells Parky he was reluctant to talk about the tragedy until now.
He adds: "I thought I had better get this off my chest and I did and I felt better after I had done it."
Sir Bobby appears on the ITV1 chat show at 10.20pm tonight to promote his new book.