Sunday, April 14, 2013

14 April 1999 - The Gunners Get Gigged

On 14 April 1999, Ryan Giggs scored an incredible late goal to lift Manchester United over Arsenal in the FA Cup semifinals.

The two teams met at Villa Park, where they had played to a scoreless draw there three days earlier to force the replay. Arsenal, the defending FA Cup champions, were sitting second in the league behind United, despite having taken four points from their two league meetings that season.

United took the lead with an impressive 25-yard strike from David Beckham in the 17th minute, but Arsenal eventually drew level in the 69th minute when Dennis Bergkamp fired home from a similar distance. Five minutes later, United captain Roy Keane received a straight red for a foul on Marc Overmars, but the Gunners could not capitalize on their man advantage and the match went into extra time.

There, Giggs scored his iconic goal. In the 109th minute, he received the ball on the left deep in his own half, then dribbled up the pitch, evaded four different Arsenal defenders, and powered the ball into the roof of the net over goalkeeper David Seaman. It proved to be the decisive score, as United won 2-1.

United went on to complete a treble consisting of the League title, FA Cup, and European Cup.

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