1996 FA Cup Final

1996 FA Cup Final
Event	1995–96 FA Cup
Date	11 May 1996
Venue	Wembley Stadium, London
Referee	Dermot Gallagher (Oxfordshire)
Attendance	79,007

The 1996 FA Cup Final was the 51st to be held at Wembley Stadium after the Second World War and was held between two of the biggest rivals in English football, Manchester United and Liverpool.

Build-up

A few days before the final, Manchester United had secured their third league title in four years (1992–93, 1993–94 and 1995–96, coming second in 1994–95). The final was also their third in three seasons, having beaten Chelsea 4–0 in 1994 and lost 1–0 to Everton in 1995.

Liverpool, on the other hand, were going through a barren spell in terms of trophies, having not won the league title since 1989–90 or an FA Cup since 1992, although they had tasted success in the League Cup in 1995.

Liverpool and Manchester United were the two top scoring sides in the FA Premier League in this season, and entered the game as the most attacking sides in English football, with Liverpool winning their last meeting 2–0 at Anfield, and Manchester United equalising at Old Trafford to get a 2–2 draw in the reverse fixture, with Robbie Fowler scoring all four of Liverpool's goals against Manchester United in both meetings.

Match summary

The match, despite the rivalry between the two teams, was a fairly unmemorable game, rarely sparking into life, with playmakers Eric Cantona and Steve McManaman, marked and closed out by Jamie Redknapp and John Barnes and Roy Keane and Nicky Butt respectively. Keane went on to stop virtually every attack the Liverpool midfield threw at Manchester United, and covering as commentator Peter Brackley described, "every blade of grass", to win the man of the match award.

The game started with a frenetic pace and Manchester United started with several positive chances before Liverpool came back into the game, but chances at either end were limited. Neither goalkeeper, Peter Schmeichel for Manchester United and David James for Liverpool, was seriously tested throughout the majority of the game. However, with just five minutes remaining on the clock, David James tried to punch a corner clear. The ball landed just outside the penalty area, at the feet of Manchester United captain Eric Cantona, who had scored in his comeback game after a seven-month suspension at Old Trafford against Liverpool earlier that season in a game that ended 2–2. Cantona hit his shot goalwards, through the crowded penalty area and the ball nestled in the back of the goal, winning the game for Manchester United.[1] Cantona had been marked out of the game, but true to his form all season, popped up with yet another magical moment.

Result

The win was Manchester United's third FA Cup win under Alex Ferguson, having also won in 1990 and 1994. They became the first club to win the competition nine times, and also became the first club to win the league championship and FA Cup double on two occasions.

Manchester United's two longest serving players, Steve Bruce and Brian McClair, were dropped in favour of younger players for the final. Bruce never played for Manchester United again, as he was transferred to Birmingham City 11 days later, while McClair remained at the club for a further two seasons. Neil Ruddock was left out of the Liverpool squad despite having played in both the quarter and semi-final, as well as in each of the last six league matches of the season.

Match details

11 May 1996

15:00 BST

Liverpool	0–1	Manchester United
	Report	Cantona 85'

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 79,007

Referee: Dermot Gallagher (Oxfordshire)

Liverpool

Manchester United


GK	1	David James
CB	12	John Scales
CB	5	Mark Wright
CB	6	Phil Babb	60'
RWB	4	Jason McAteer
LWB	2	Rob Jones		86'
CM	15	Jamie Redknapp	40'
CM	10	John Barnes (c)
AM	17	Steve McManaman
CF	23	Robbie Fowler
CF	8	Stan Collymore		74'
Substitutes:
GK	26	Tony Warner
MF	16	Michael Thomas		86'
FW	9	Ian Rush		74'
Manager:
Roy Evans


GK	1	Peter Schmeichel
RB	3	Denis Irwin
CB	6	Gary Pallister
CB	12	David May
LB	23	Phil Neville	69'
RM	24	David Beckham		90'
CM	16	Roy Keane
CM	19	Nicky Butt
LM	11	Ryan Giggs
SS	7	Eric Cantona (c)
CF	17	Andy Cole		64'
Substitutes:
DF	20	Gary Neville		90'
MF	5	Lee Sharpe
FW	22	Paul Scholes		64'
Manager:
Alex Ferguson

Match officials

Assistant referees:
- Anthony Bates (Staffordshire)
- Peter Walton (Northamptonshire)
Fourth official: Paul Durkin (Dorset)

Match rules

90 minutes
30 minutes of extra time if necessary
Replay required if scores still level, to be played at 19:30 on 16 May 1996
Three named substitutes
Maximum of two substitutions

Post-match

After the match, the Manchester United team was presented the FA Cup trophy by The Duchess of Kent, wife of the President of The Football Association, Prince Edward. As the Manchester United players climbed the steps to the Royal Box to receive their medals, captain Eric Cantona was spat at by a spectator wearing a Liverpool shirt, while manager Alex Ferguson evaded a punch thrown by another.[2]

For Liverpool, the match was the final appearance of goalscoring legend Ian Rush, who had scored 346 goals for the club since joining them in 1980 (sandwiched by a one-season spell at Juventus in the late 1980s) and left at the end of the season to sign for Leeds United.[3]

The only Manchester United player whose involvement with the club ended with this game was unused substitute Lee Sharpe, who joined Rush at Leeds United just before the 1996–97 season began, after eight years at Old Trafford.

The match gained notoriety for non-football reasons, having been picked up by the British tabloids for its pre-match formalities because the Liverpool team turned up in cream-coloured Emporio Armani suits, outlandish striped ties, and white Gucci shoes, the outfit reportedly being picked by goalkeeper David James who had recently signed on to model that fashion label. Manchester United players, by contrast, wore traditional navy suits with a full button vest, black and white striped tie, and red carnation boutonnière. One commentator suggested that if Liverpool "won the cup, it would have been legendary, reminiscent of Italian flamboyance and audacity - the likes of which hadn’t been seen in English football before."[4][5][6]

References

Smith, Alan (24 July 2015). "Golden Goal: Eric Cantona for Manchester United v Liverpool (1996)". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
"Wembley to act over spitting". The Independent. 13 May 1996. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
"Ian Rush". Liverpool FC. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
Turton, Jonathan (17 March 2016). "Were Liverpool FC's Spice Boys really as bad as their white suits suggest?". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
Wilkerson, Ian (16 February 2006). "FA Cup flashback". BBC. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
"The FA Cup's 100 most memorable moments - Gazza to Giggs, Burton to Bradford, but what is No 1?". BBC. 18 February 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2018.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] Smith, Alan (24 July 2015). "Golden Goal: Eric Cantona for Manchester United v Liverpool (1996)". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 May 2020.

[2] "Wembley to act over spitting". The Independent. 13 May 1996. Retrieved 14 September 2019.

[3] "Ian Rush". Liverpool FC. Retrieved 29 November 2018.

[4] Turton, Jonathan (17 March 2016). "Were Liverpool FC's Spice Boys really as bad as their white suits suggest?". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 29 November 2018.

[5] Wilkerson, Ian (16 February 2006). "FA Cup flashback". BBC. Retrieved 29 November 2018.

[6] "The FA Cup's 100 most memorable moments - Gazza to Giggs, Burton to Bradford, but what is No 1?". BBC. 18 February 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2018.

FA Cup
Seasons	1871–72 1872–73 1873–74 1874–75 1875–76 1876–77 1877–78 1878–79 1879–80 1880–81 1881–82 1882–83 1883–84 1884–85 1885–86 1886–87 1887–88 1888–89 1889–90 1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21
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Finals	1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
History Trophy List of finals Third-fourth place matches Semi-finals Final referees Winning managers Non-English clubs Scottish clubs Non-League clubs in the 5th Round Giant-Killing Award

Liverpool F.C. matches
FA Cup Finals	1914 1950 1965 1971 1974 1977 1986 1988 1989 1992 1996 2001 2006 2012
League Cup Finals	1978 1981 1982 1983 1984 1987 1995 2001 2003 2005 2012 2016
FA Community Shield	1922 1964 1965 1966 1971 1974 1976 1977 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1988 1989 1990 1992 2001 2002 2006 2019 2020
UEFA Champions League Finals	1977 1978 1981 1984 1985 2005 2007 2018 2019
European Cup Winners' Cup Final	1966
UEFA Europa League Finals	1973 1976 2001 2016
UEFA Super Cup	1977 1978 ~~1981~~ 1984 2001 2005 2019
Intercontinental Cup	~~1978~~ 1981 1984
FIFA Club World Cup Finals	2005 2019
Notable league matches	Liverpool 0–2 Arsenal (1989) Liverpool 9–0 Crystal Palace (1989) Liverpool 4–3 Newcastle (1996)
Other matches	Ajax 5–1 Liverpool (1966) 1986 English Super Cup Final Football League 100th Championship Challenge (1999)

Manchester United F.C. matches
FA Cup Finals	1909 1948 1957 1958 1963 1976 1977 1979 1983 1985 1990 1994 1995 1996 1999 2004 2005 2007 2016 2018
League Cup Finals	1983 1991 1992 1994 2003 2006 2009 2010 2017
FA Community Shields	1908 1911 1948 1952 1956 1957 1963 1965 1967 1977 1983 1985 1990 1993 1994 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2003 2004 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2013 2016
UEFA Champions League Finals	1968 1999 2008 2009 2011
European Cup Winners' Cup Final	1991
UEFA Europa League Final	2017
UEFA Super Cup	1991 1999 2008 2017
Intercontinental Cup	1968 1999
FIFA Club World Cup Final	2008
Notable league matches	3–5 v West Bromwich Albion (1978) Manchester United–Arsenal brawl (1990) 9–0 v Ipswich Town (1995) 8–1 v Nottingham Forest (1999) Battle of Old Trafford (2003) Battle of the Buffet (2004) 4–3 v Manchester City (2009) 8–2 v Arsenal (2011) 9–0 v Southampton (2021)
Other matches	UEFA Celebration Match (2007) 2010 MLS All-Star 2011 MLS All-Star 2013 A-League All Stars