Newcastle United 1-4 Manchester United
The FA Cup Semi-Final
The Millennium Stadium
17 April 2005



Manchester United captain Roy Keane is delighted to have made it through to this year's FA Cup Final.

Keane lead United to an emphatic 4-1 victory over Newcastle at the Millennium Stadium.

A brace from Ruud van Nistelrooy and strikes from Paul Scholes and Cristiano Ronaldo have set up a mouth-watering clash between United and Arsenal next month.

"It feels very nice to be in The Final after having a difficult few weeks," said the Irishman.

"We wanted to make it a quick game. Newcastle have had a tough week after travelling and playing in Europe on Thursday.

"From our point of view we wanted to set a quick pace and they didn't really get close to us in the first half.

"The wet conditions were fine, I think we were glad to see a bit of rain so we could play at a decent pace. It suited our game and we kept them on the back foot."

The Final will take place on 21 May in Cardiff with both the Gunners and United having reached this stage of the competition 17 times before.

But Keane insists that his immediate thoughts are now on United's next league fixture with Everton on Wednesday.

"The Final is in a few weeks and that will take care of itself, we just need to prepare for our game on Wednesday," he said.

Meanwhile, Keane's team-mate Darren Fletcher has already got one eye on The Final and says that United are determined to beat Arsenal to follow on from their superb performance in Cardiff.

Fletcher, a second-half substitute against Newcastle, said: “It’s a great game. It’s going to bebuilt up by the press and by everyone else, but we will be concentrating on playing our football and trying to win it. We will want to get the right result.”

Fletcher was impressed with the way striker Ruud van Nistelrooy rediscovered his goalscoring touch to set up a return to Cardiff next month, while Paul Scholes and Cristiano Ronaldo wrapped up victory.

“Ruud’s all round performance was magnificent," he said, "he really is back now. He and Wayne Rooney both look like they go into games without any fear. They were fantastic.

“But the whole team did well. I thought we were magnificent today and we were convincing winners in the end. It’s going to be a great game against Arsenal now.”