Manchester United beat Arsenal at Old Trafford to end a record run of 49 matches unbeaten on this day, 21 years ago.
Sir Alex Ferguson had many battles and title races with Arsène Wenger during his time in charge of Manchester United. The ‘Battle of the Buffet’ will be remembered by many fans as one of the most heated encounters in a fierce rivalry.
United were crowned Premier League champions in 2002/03, the season before Arsenal’s Invincibles, so there was plenty of appetite for revenge when Wenger’s last-ever title-winning side came to Old Trafford on 24 October 2004. Little did the Frenchman know there would be such a ripple effect.
Thirteen months on from the ‘Battle of Old Trafford’, which included Ruud van Nistelrooy’s added-time penalty miss, Arsenal returned with the aim of extending their unbeaten run to 50 matches. It was the start of their title defence, so Ferguson would have been eager to dent their momentum early doors.
Arsenal’s arrogance pre-match
Arsenal came to Old Trafford expecting to extend their unbeaten run. United were up for the occasion, especially after the same fixture went the previous campaign, which ended in a 0-0 draw. I remember watching the game and the highlight reels reminding us of Martin Keown’s bully tactics.
The atmosphere was hostile, but with Roy Keane missing, Ferguson played Phil Neville in midfield alongside Paul Scholes. In a Channel Five documentary, Fergie vs Wenger, Neville’s summarised it brilliantly.
“We were ready,” Neville said. In a period of 12 months when they’d got the better of us, this was our moment; Sir Alex knew it was our moment.
“He’d placed every bit of the last two weeks on this particular game, they are not coming to Old Trafford, and they are not gonna do us.”
Neville and his brother, Gary, also noticed the shirts that were worn by a few of the Arsenal players before the game. They donned ’50 not out’ and wore them under their jerseys in anticipation of remaining unbeaten. This was sheer and utter arrogance, and it undoubtedly motivated the United players.
Man Utd end Arsenal’s 49-match unbeaten run
Van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney scored to give United a 2-0 win over Arsenal. The Dutch striker netted the opener from the penalty spot after Sol Campbell’s challenge on Rooney. There was a feeling of redemption after Van Nistelrooy missed his penalty against Arsenal in the previous season.
After winning the penalty, Rooney marked his 19th birthday with the winner against Arsenal to bring their unbeaten run to an end. The United players offered to swap shirts because they wanted to see the ’50 not out’ t-shirts that their opponents had printed before the game.
Wenger took issue with the referee, Mike Riley, over multiple reasons. The biggest included United’s penalty, tackles on Ashley Cole, Freddie Ljungberg, and Antonio Reyes. Ultimately, the biggest problem was having to deal with managing a great team that was coming to an end.
Battle of the Buffet
Farcical scenes took place in the Old Trafford tunnel following United’s 2-0 win. As players clashed, Ferguson was struck by a slice of pizza by Cesc Fabregas.
A lot of the information around the clash in the tunnel at the time was sketchy, but Ferguson’s account of being hit by a slice of pizza makes for intriguing reading as it strained relations for years.
“Although Arsene [Wenger] would never come in for a drink after games, Pat Rice, his assistant, would always cross the threshold for a glass, until the pizza fight at Old Trafford,” Ferguson wrote in his second autobiography.
“My recollection of that fabled incident is that when Ruud van Nistelrooy came into the dressing room, he complained that Wenger had been giving him stick as he left the pitch. Right away I rushed out to say to Arsene: ‘You leave my players alone.’ He was incensed at losing the game. That was the reason for his combative behaviour.
“’You should attend to your own players,’ I told him. He was livid. His fists were clenched. I was in control, I knew it. Arsene had a thing about Van Nistelrooy. I remember him saying he’d had a chance to sign Ruud but had decided he was not good enough to play for Arsenal. I agreed with him in the sense that Van Nistelrooy may not have been a great footballer. But he was a great goalscorer.
“Anyway, the next thing I knew, I had pizza all over me. Pizza, chicken. Most clubs do it. Arsenal’s food was the best. They say it was Cesc Fabregas who threw the pizza at me but, to this day, I have no idea who the culprit was.
“The corridor outside the dressing room turned into a rabble. Arsenal had been defending a 49-game unbeaten record and had been hoping to make it 50 on our turf. It seemed to me that losing that game scrambled Arsene’s brain.
“That day created a division between us, without doubt, and that rift extended to Pat Rice, who stopped coming in for a drink after games. The wound was not fully healed until the Champions League semi-final in 2009, when Arsene invited us into his room after the game and congratulated us. When we played them at Old Trafford a few weeks later, Arsene came in with Pat, just for a few minutes.”
The downfall of Arsene Wenger
Considering this was the end of Arsenal’s great side under Wenger, and he didn’t go on to build another title-winning team at the club, it cannot be denied that this defeat had a ripple effect. Fergie believed it scrambled his brain.
On the other hand, Ferguson was building another great United side – with Ferdinand, Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo. They all went on to win multiple league titles and the Champions League in 2008.
The rivalry isn’t what it used to be. Arsenal won their first league title since last term, while United finished third and now find themselves in a slump after winning just two of the first 11 games this season.