Scandalous Premier League match: Legendary Ferguson thrown pizza – why?

20 years ago, the rivalry between Manchester United and Arsenal turned to its maximum. The confrontation was truly legendary in those years. Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira – They hated each other so much that they even started reckoning in the tunnel under the stands before the match.

In 2004, Arsenal set an unmatched record by being undefeated in 38 Premier League games: +26, =12, -0. However, the Gunners could lose twice in a row at the start of the championship. They parted ways with Portsmouth in the fifth round: Thierry Henry countered the visitors’ goal with an accurate penalty kick. Arsene Wenger’s team earned the right to shoot from the spot after a candid simulation by Robert Pires.

And in the sixth round, Manchester United and Arsenal played a historic face-to-face match. “Battle of Old Trafford”. Passions flared as Vieira escaped in the last 15 minutes Ore van Nistelrooy and received a second yellow card.

Already at that moment, Arsenal players were ready to literally smash the Dutchman. The well-known tough-minded goalkeeper Jens Lehmann attacked Rud, but the lineman protected the German from attack.

At the last minute, referee Steve Bennett gave Arsenal a controversial penalty, adding color to the game. Van Nistelrooy approached the point and loaded the mast with all his might. A few seconds later the referee blew the final whistle and the guests did not deny themselves the pleasure of teasing Rud in the backseat.

Martin Keown Jumped on Dutchman and hit him in the neck, right-back Laurent He pushed Van Nistelrooy back hard. Immediately a brawl broke out on the field: even the young Cristiano, who now works as Arsenal’s coach, and the Brazilian Edu, managed to rush.

Next time the Gunners arrive at Old Trafford in 13 months – current champions status 49 game undefeated streak. Before the game, everyone understood everything: Manchester United would have taken the field to the bone, but would not let the enemy bring the series to the beautiful number 50, especially in front of the audience.

All England prepared for slaughter, and the judge Mike Riley When he learned that he was appointed for this match, he crossed several times.

But in the end, Riley was the real culprit for getting into the fight again. Seeking to avenge Van Nistelrooy, the Red Devils started to be frankly rude from the first minutes, but Riley loosened the ropes of the game and didn’t have time to punish everyone he had to do.

Watch this video and count how many red cards Manchester United will see in the first half with VAR and how many times they have aggressively attacked José Antonio Reyes.

With all this, it remains a mystery how Arsenal defender Ashley Cole received the first yellow card of the match. However, Riley’s crimes against humanity in the first half pale in comparison to what happened in the second half. at the 72nd minute Wayne Rooney He dived like a fish after making nanocontact with Saul Campbell, but in the judge’s view this was enough to punish Gunners with an 11-metre penalty.

Van Nistelrooy didn’t miss his second try and Rooney eventually scored more goals – from Alan Smith’s pass to the empty net. 2:0 – The Mankunians deprived Arsenal of invincibility. But the events now known as subtitles, “The battle at the buffet” or Pizzagate.

Word is given directly to the three attendees at these events: Manchester United head coach Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsenal players Ashley Cole and Cesc Fabregas.

“Rud came into the locker room and complained that Wenger beat him when he left the field. I rushed to tell Arsene, ‘Leave our players alone.’ I was in control.The next thing I remember is I’m covered in pizza.

We left food in the locker room after each game: pizza, chicken. Most clubs do this. Food was the best for Arsenal,” wrote Sir Alex in My Autobiography (2013).

Football players were baptized before eating chicken. What happened to Blackburn, who played in the Premier League for a long time?

“We were going through a retractable plastic tunnel. Everyone looked at each other, shouted: “Yes, you are crooks.” Players collided in a narrow corridor, I was stuck in the middle. I heard like a boss (I’m talking about Wenger. – Sport24) He crushes Ferguson with a fervent French, and Sir Alex returns.

At one point, a piece of pizza flew over my head and crashed into porridge right above Fergie. The slap echoed in the tunnel and everything stopped: the fight, the scream, everything. All eyes stared at him as the pizza slice slid onto the beautiful black suit of that famous face.

I thought Ferguson was about to explode, but he flew into the locker room cursing, grunting, and shaking off the crumbs. We walked out the door and laughed. All I can say is that the culprit was neither English nor French. That will narrow down the suspects,” Ashley said in her autobiography My Defense (2006).

“We felt cheated because we didn’t deserve to lose. A little fight broke out. Since I did not play, I was one of the first to enter the tunnel. I saw a pizza in the dressing room, I got a piece because I was hungry. Then he heard the screams, turned back and saw how Rio Ferdinand, Thierry Henry, Saul Campbell and other great men would fight.

I had nothing to catch between the big men in the tunnel, thin and small. So I threw the pizza at Manchester United. To be honest, I didn’t specifically target anyone. Later I found out I hit Mr. Ferguson. It was unintentional, it was just an accident.

I’ve already apologized to him in front of everyone, and I’m going to do it again. I was young, now I definitely wouldn’t throw pizza. I would fight right now!” Cesk said in 2019.

“I was devastated to miss the game and all the post-match fights in the tunnel,” Keane said. I couldn’t even come to the stadium. I heard they threw pizza in the tunnel, but I wouldn’t eat it. It’s not healthy enough for me.”

###

Pizzagate is considered the last “great” match between Manchester United and Arsenal. At the end of the 2004/05 season, Vieira left London for Turin and after the Champions League final in Paris, where Arsenal lost to Barcelona, ​​Arsene Wenger embarked on a global restructuring. Within two years, Campbell, Cole, Pires, Ljungberg, Lehmann, Henri, Bergkamp, ​​Laurent left the team – almost the entire undefeated squad.

The updated Arsenal will no longer be able to compete with Manchester United on equal terms and will return to the fight for 3-4 places. The cheese stain that remained on Alex Ferguson’s jacket after his meeting with Cesc’s pizza emerged as a fat spot in the big fight between the two teams and epitomizes the era when the giants’ games in the Premier League turned into a real carnage. abrasions, blood, testosterone, and the musky scent of male eggs.

Why Vardy drank vodka with Skittles: he found his own or a special recipe for how to make rainbow vodka

Latvian Stepanov went to London’s Arsenal due to a scam. Players joked and bought Wenger and then cursed