In the past two seasons, with their back-to-back wins, Arsenal have also replaced United as the most successful team in the FA Cup, lifting the trophy 12 times to United’s 11.
When United last featured in the final, while there was the obvious disappointment of losing — particularly considering Chelsea’s only goal came minutes before extra-time finished and a penalty shoot-out was due to begin — but supporters had the league title as a consolation. United had spent a few years in the wilderness watching Jose Mourinho’s team wipe the floor with everyone, believing their dominance in the Roman Abramovich era would be indefinite. Yet in Mourinho’s third season, United were convincing champions against all odds and predictions at the start of that season.
Losing a cup final is awful for any set of fans but the idea 12 months earlier that United would have been in the running for winning the double was inconceivable. And so after the initial heartache, chants of “campeones, campeones, ole, ole, ole” on the way back to the train station certainly softened the blow.
Nobody could have predicted at the time that United wouldn’t play at Wembley again in the FA Cup, other than the silly semifinals hosted there now, when the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney were on the cusp of greatness. Yet year after year, Sir Alex Ferguson failed to reclaim the trophy and Rooney never went on to win it.
United came close in 2008 — the fans felt robbed by Portsmouth when referee Martin Atkinson waved away a stonewall penalty claim on Ronaldo early on, before sending off Tomasz Kuszczak and awarding a penalty to the opposition that Rio Ferdinand was tasked with trying to save.
The following season it was David Moyes’ Everton who knocked United out in the semifinals, after United had yet another nailed on penalty appeal turned down, this time by Mike Riley, when Phil Jagielka brought down Danny Welbeck in the box. Still, for all the unlucky occasions, there have been some truly woeful exits from the FA Cup too, namely the 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford against Leeds, defeat to Manchester City in the semifinals and getting beaten by Dirk Kuyt’s 88th minute winner against Liverpool.
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