Arsenal icon Ray Parlour has admitted that he still can’t bring himself to watch the Gunners’ infamous FA Cup semi-final defeat to Manchester United in 1999.
The former midfielder enjoyed a hugely successful spell with the North London side. He lifted three Premier League titles, four FA Cups and the League Cup during his time as an Arsenal player.
Despite that impressive list of highlights, one particular result still haunts the now 49-year-old - that being the infamous FA Cup semi-final replay defeat to Man United at Villa Park in 1999. Ryan Giggs stole the headlines for the ten-man Red Devils as he scored a wonderful solo goal in extra-time to seal a 2-1 victory, followed by his iconic shirt-off celebration.
Amid Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp’s claims that he has only just rewatched the Reds’ defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League final last season, Parlour was asked by talkSPORT host Laura Woods if he had a similar fixture. The ex-Arsenal star only had one answer.
“There’s certain games where you think ‘how did we lose that?’ Things went wrong and the wrong times of games,” he replied. I’m sure Jurgen would say that about that game [ Champions League final defeat] because two fantastic managers, [Carlo] Ancelotti you know with all of his experience.
“If there’s one game that sticks out in my mind, it’s the ‘99 FA Cup semi-final replay against United when obviously Ryan Giggs scored one of the all-time classic goals of the FA Cup and took his shirt off. It was a mistake I think from Patrick [Vieira] in midfield.
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“A square pass and he was away at the defence and done really well to finish it off but that was a nightmare because they had ten men as well, Man Utd, we had one extra player. What a season that was for United because they went on obviously to win the treble.
“They beat Newcastle in the cup final and beat us by a point in the league and obviously the famous game with Bayern Munich which was magnificent. Solskjaer and Sheringham.”
Parlour is not the only member of that Arsenal troop to still think about that extra-time defeat to United. Former boss Arsene Wenger remains haunted by the Red Devils’ post-match celebrations and believes that game was decisive in the race for the Premier League crown.
Speaking back in 2015, the Frenchman said: “I can still hear the shouts of that team [United], having won. They couldn’t believe it because they were down to 10 men.
“And I think that put them in a state of euphoria. In the same way, they won the title — just.”
After being ousted by Man United in the FA Cup, Arsenal were beaten to the title by just a solitary point.
