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| May 22, 2005 | Sunday | Rabi-us-Sani 13, 1426 |
Arsenal win FA Cup on penalties
CARDIFF, May 21: Arsenal became the first team to win the FA Cup final on penalties with an undeserved 5-4 victory over holders Manchester United after a goalless draw on Saturday. Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira coolly converted the final spot-kick in front of the United fans after his team mate Jens Lehmann had superbly saved a Paul Scholes penalty.
Yet Arsenal, who finished the match with 10 men after Jose Antonio Reyes was sent off seconds from the end of extra time, were not the moral victors of a game in which their arch-rivals made all the best chances and enjoyed none of the luck.
Inspired by teenage forward Wayne Rooney and winger Cristiano Ronaldo, United dominated the match and Arsenal failed to create a single clearcut scoring chance over 90 minutes and badly missed injured striker Thierry Henry.
While Arsenal showed none of their usual attacking fluency, United had a Rio Ferdinand effort disallowed in the first half, Rooney hit the post and Ruud van Nistelrooy was denied by the crossbar in the second.
Alex Ferguson’s luckless side also had two penalty appeals waved away in extra time, which ended seconds after Arsenal’s Spanish forward Reyes became only the second player to be sent off in the final.
Without Henry, the Premier League’s top scorer, Arsenal were playing an unusually cautious 4-5-1 formation with Dennis Bergkamp up front.
The first chance fell to United after six minutes with a teasing run down the left by Ronaldo and a chipped cross that was headed over by Scholes.
Arsenal had their share of possession and worked the ball well enough around the midfield, but United always looked the more dangerous going forward and could have been 3-0 up midway through the half.
Ferdinand put the ball in the Arsenal net after Lehmann failed to hold a Rooney shot through a packed penalty area, only to have the strike ruled offside.
Rooney followed up with a snapshot from a Van Nistelrooy cutback which Lehmann did well to push over and then superbly volleyed a corner narrowly over from 20 metres.
With Ronaldo tying right back Lauren in knots and Arsenal needing four men to stop one Rooney run, there was an almost audible sigh of relief from Arsenal at the break.
There was no let-up after the re-start, though, as Rooney and Ronaldo continued to torment the Arsenal back four.
As the pace took its toll, United nearly broke the deadlock at the death when Van Nistelrooy was allowed a free header that was nodded on to the crossbar and out by Ljungberg.
Arsenal substitute Robin van Persie forced keeper Roy Carroll into his first real save with a viciously-curling free kick, while United twice had penalty appeals waved away and a close-range shot from Scholes and a Van Nistelrooy header sailed over the bar.—Agencies
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