| Event | 2004–05 FA Premier League | ||||||
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| Date | 24 October 2004 | ||||||
| Venue | Old Trafford, Manchester | ||||||
| Referee | Mike Riley (West Yorkshire) | ||||||
| Attendance | 67,862 | ||||||
The "Battle of the Buffet" is a name used by the British press to refer to a memorable Premier League match played on Sunday, 24 October 2004 between Manchester United and Arsenal. Originally this fixture was known as "The Battle of Old Trafford II", in reference to a previous fixture which gained the name,[1] but this quickly fell out of common use before it became better known at the time of the match as the "Battle of the Buffet".[2][3]
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The equivalent fixture the previous season was a goalless draw, notable for Manchester United's Ruud van Nistelrooy missing a last-minute penalty before a confrontation involving himself and several Arsenal players, especially Martin Keown. The ill feeling was originally sparked by an incident between Ruud van Nistelrooy and Patrick Vieira; having been fouled by van Nistelrooy, Vieira aimed a kick in retaliation, although did not make contact, he was still sent off for a second bookable offence. Van Nistelrooy was accused by both Vieira and Arsenal's manager, Arsène Wenger, of feigning contact to get Vieira sent off, while United manager Alex Ferguson defended his player and denied he had dived.[4] In the wake of the match, four Arsenal players received bans after the incident and were given fines totalling £275,000 by the FA. Two Manchester United players were also fined for improper conduct, with a third warned about his future behaviour. The 2003 match was originally labelled "The Battle of Old Trafford" by the British press.[5]
The significance of the fixture for the two clubs was increased by the fact that, had Arsenal avoided defeat, they could have extended their unbeaten league run to 50 matches, while Manchester United – who were 11 points behind the league leaders at the time – wanted to prove they were title contenders and end Arsenal's run. The teams had met a few months earlier, kicking off the season in the FA Community Shield, which Arsenal had won 3–1.
Manchester United won the match 2–0, ending Arsenal's 49-match unbeaten run in the Premier League that had included the whole of the previous season (a first in Premier League history). It was played in front of a crowd of 67,862.
The match was notable for a series of controversial incidents; not for the first time a meeting between the two sides was followed by claim and counter-claim of gamesmanship, bad refereeing decisions and diving.
The match was goalless until the 72nd minute, when Wayne Rooney won a penalty under a challenge by Sol Campbell, despite the defender seeming to withdraw from the tackle.[6] Ruud van Nistelrooy converted the penalty, and Rooney went on to score a second goal in the 90th minute.
| 24 October 2004 16:00 BST |
Manchester United | 2 – 0 | Arsenal | Old Trafford, Manchester Attendance: 67,862 Referee: Mike Riley (West Yorkshire) |
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| Van Nistelrooy 73' (pen.) Rooney 90' |
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Manchester United
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Arsenal
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Sol Campbell was seen to refuse to shake Wayne Rooney's hand at the final whistle and tempers were reported to have boiled over in the players' tunnel. There were accusations that certain foodstuffs, variously reported as pizza, coffee, tomato soup or pea soup, had been thrown at Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson by an unknown Arsenal player.[7]
The Arsenal coach, Arsène Wenger, later claimed that Rooney had dived to win the penalty. Mike Riley, who had attracted criticism as England's representative referee at Euro 2004 – specifically, for failing to award Latvia a penalty against Germany – was said to have made many mistakes during the match.[8]
Ruud van Nistelrooy was charged with serious foul play after a challenge on Arsenal left-back Ashley Cole. He pled guilty to the offence and received a three-match ban for his conduct during the match.[9]
Former referee Jeff Winter said of Riley's performance, "It's more about winning than fair play now and if you get the decision then it's all part and parcel of the game but if you don't, the attitude is 'let's complain' and usually the referee is the easy target. But that game, with the baggage that goes with it, is almost becoming an impossible match to referee – and I speak from personal experience."[7]
Premier League refereeing chief Keith Hackett said "We know this is one of the tough encounters of the season. Mike clearly had a game plan to try not to suppress the match. He wanted it to breathe and perhaps went in with the intention of getting through the game without having to dismiss any players. In the back of his mind was trying to get through a game without having a blow-up and I think Mike did extremely well to keep a lid on things."[7]
Arsène Wenger was less generous; "Riley decided the game, like we know he can do at Old Trafford. There was no contact at all for the penalty, even Rooney said so. It's very difficult to take to see how lightly the referee gives the penalty. We can only master our own performance, not the referee's performance. We got the usual penalty awarded against us when we come to Manchester United and they are in difficulty. It happened last season and it's happened again." He also said of other incidents, "At some stages there were incidents, especially on [José Antonio] Reyes, where there was some deliberate kicking. The rules are there to be respected and only the referee can make the players respect them.[8]
Arsenal's captain Patrick Vieira, whose rivalry with Manchester United's captain Roy Keane had become a key element of meetings between the two sides, said "You get used to it when you play at Old Trafford, we are used to it."[8] Keane was seen to confront Vieira in the players tunnel before the return fixture later in the season, which Manchester United won 4–2 at Highbury.[10] This came about by an incident during the pre-game warm up when Vieira had allegedly pushed Gary Neville after confronting the player about the challenges José Antonio Reyes suffered at Old Trafford earlier in the season. Once Keane found out back in the United locker room, he unleashed a verbal tirade on Vieira including telling the Arsenal skipper "I'll see you out there". The match that followed was another ill spirited affair with both sides guilty of poor challenges, which also saw Mikaël Silvestre sent off after a clash with Freddie Ljungberg. United however would go on to win the game, coming from behind twice before running away with it, despite being reduced to 10 men for the last third of the match.
The teams then faced each other once more in the FA Cup final at the end of the season. The match ended 0–0 after normal and extra time, taking it to a shootout. Paul Scholes missed his penalty for Manchester United, and Patrick Viera, who was Arsenals captain, converted his kick a few kicks later to win the cup for Arsenal.
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