Arsenal win 5-4 on penalties

The FA Cup Final
Saturday 21 May 2005
£1,000,000 to the winning club



Sir Alex Ferguson admitted that Manchester United's goalscoring problems had come back to haunt them in The FA Cup Final.

United have struggled to find the net all season in the Premiership and they wasted a host of chances to beat arch-rivals Arsenal at the Millennium Stadium.

And they paid the ultimate price as the Gunners snatched the trophy with a 5-4 win in the penalty shoot-out.

Ferguson said: "We are disappointed we have not got The Cup. We have missed chances all season and our goalscoring has been letting us down, so we have only got ourselves to blame really.

"It is very hard to take, but that's what Cup football is like and we have seen it before and experienced it today.

"I think our preparation was right and after half-time we really got our game together and put on a great performance.

"But the season is over now and you could reflect on what might have been all day long. But we need to do something about it next season and that's the nature of what we are all about.

"We have always been galvanised by disappointments and adversity. Our players will pick themselves up off the ground and bounce back from this because they have that kind of character."