Arsenal won the first FA Cup final to be decided on a penalty shoot-out, beating arch-rivals Manchester United 5-4 in a dramatic spot-kick climax at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday.
Arsenal skipper Patrick Vieira drove in the decisive kick after 120 minutes’ action saw the teams locked at 0-0, only the second time in FA Cup history the match has finished goalless, the other time being in 1912.
The result was tough on United, who dominated the game but failed to take their chances.
Only one penalty in the shoot-out was missed, with Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann diving to his right to push away Paul Scholes’s effort with the scores level at 1-1.
The result means United have failed to win a trophy this season, with Arsenal moving to 10 FA Cup wins — one behind United’s record 11.
Arsenal striker Jose Antonio Reyes was sent off in extra-time stoppage time, for a second bookable offence after fouling Cristiano Ronaldo, but it was not a costly exit.
Holders United omitted Wales winger Ryan Giggs from their starting line-up with manager Sir Alex Ferguson opting for Darren Fletcher instead.
England fullback Gary Neville, struggling with a groin injury, was also on the bench.
Meanwhile, Sol Campbell was among the Arsenal substitutes. The England centre-back had only recently returned from an ankle injury that had kept him out since February and manager Arsene Wenger kept faith with Philippe Senderos and Kolo Toure.
There was no place anywhere for Thierry Henry after Wenger had earlier ruled the France striker out with an Achilles problem.
United’s build-up had been overshadowed by the controversial takeover of the club by United States businessman Malcolm Glazer.
Fans had been encouraged to wear black in protest, with United ironically wearing the same colour on match day, Arsenal in their first-choice red instead.
But despite banners reading ”You will never own me” and ”RIP”, there was no audible anti-Glazer chanting.
Instead, United supporters shouted for their team who dominated normal time in a match where rain was allowed on to the pitch with the stadium’s retractable roof open.
In the fifth minute, Portugal winger Ronaldo created the game’s first chance when he burst down the left, beat Arsenal full-back Lauren and delivered a pinpoint cross to an unmarked Scholes.
However, from just a few yards out and in the centre of the box, the former England midfielder headed over the bar.
Arsenal responded when United ‘keeper Roy Carroll, rushing way off his line, was beaten to a long through ball by Reyes.
But the covering defence ensured the Spaniard couldn’t get a clear shot and, after a brief moment of pinball inside the area, the ball came out to Vieira, who blasted the ball over the top.
Ronaldo, meanwhile, was continuing to cause problems for the Arsenal defence as United went close three times in as many minutes.
First, his 28th-minute run resulted in the ball going to the edge of the box from where man-of-the-match Wayne Rooney shot only to see Germany’s Lehmann block with his legs.
England centre-back Rio Ferdinand put the rebound in the back of the net, but his effort was ruled out for offside.
Van Nistelrooy’s run down the right then set up another chance for Rooney, and this time the teenager’s powerful strike was acrobatically tipped over by Lehmann.
From the ensuing corner, Rooney flashed a 20-yard volley wide. The former Everton star then won a free kick in stoppage time, but with the final kick of the first half he was way off target.
At the start of the second period, Rooney and Ronaldo both went close as United pinned Arsenal inside their own half.
Ronaldo, brought down after yet another surging run, then saw his 25-yard free kick go narrowly wide of Lehmann’s left post with the keeper beaten.
A rare Arsenal foray forward ended with Pires volleying over the top from outside the box.
Shortly afterwards, in the 65th minute, Wenger brought on Freddie Ljungberg in place of Dutch veteran Dutchman Bergkamp.
But it was United who still dominated, with Rooney hitting the near post from out on the right before Ronaldo’s centre just failed to find Van Nistelrooy.
Ronaldo won yet another free kick, but this time Lehmann saved Rooney’s low, long-range effort and when Gilberto brought down Rooney with 10 minutes to go, Ronaldo’s free kick failed to test Lehmann.
With five minutes to go, Lehmann missed a Ronaldo cross but Keane’s shot bounced off a forest of Arsenal legs. From the corner, Van Nistelrooy’s header was nodded on to the crossbar by Ljungberg.
And in stoppage time, another Rooney long-range effort flew just over the top.
Ferguson brought Giggs on for Fletcher at the start of the 30 minutes of extra time.
Arsenal substitute Robin van Persie, on for Cesc Fabregas in the 86th minute, had the first chance of extra time when his 25-yard free kick was pushed away by Carroll. Then Lehmann produced a brilliant stop to parry Scholes’s close-range effort.
In the second half of stoppage time, Giggs was left one-on-one with Lehmann but the onrushing ‘keeper just got to the ball first. — AFP
