The pizzagate saga involving Arsenal, Manchester United, Cesc Fabregas and Sir Alex Ferguson was one of the most controversial incidents in Premier League history.
The rivalry between Arsenal and Manchester United in the early 2000s was as fierce as anything we’ve seen in the English game.
The two sets of players just did not like each other, and Wenger and Ferguson had some historic battles as well at the time.
One such battle took place at Old Trafford in October 2004.
Cesc Fabregas reveals why he threw a pizza at Sir Alex Ferguson
Arsenal faced Manchester United in the Premier League at Old Trafford on October 24th, 2004, in one of the most controversial games ever.
The Gunners had won the title in the previous season by going the entire campaign unbeaten. They didn’t lose a game in the first few months of 2004/05 either and remained invincible going into the game at Old Trafford.
Arsenal didn’t look bad at all in that game, but the refereeing performance from Mike Riley was absolutely atrocious. It was one of the worst we’ve ever seen.
United went on to win the game, but the battle didn’t end on the pitch. The two sets of players were going at each other even in the tunnel, and 17-year-old Fabregas witnessed that after coming out of the dressing room.
The former Arsenal midfielder was never a confrontational footballer, but seeing his teammates fighting made him want to defend them.
So, Fabregas, who had a slice of pizza in his hand, decided to throw it into the crowd, and unfortunately for Ferguson, he was at the end of it.
“I was in the dressing room eating the pizza and I see that everyone outside the dressing room in that small tunnel, something was going on. It was kicking off,” Fabregas said on Rest is Football.
“By the time I go out, I see everyone just getting into each other. It was like a little fight but it got bigger and bigger and bigger. I was very small, very tiny, I didn’t really know what to do, but I wanted to bring something to the table to defend my teammates and that’s what I did (threw the pizza).
“But, I didn’t aim at anyone. You know when you just throw something into the crowd to see if it hits someone… And then I hit the big guy, Sir Alex, unfortunately.”
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Three huge refereeing errors ended Arsenal’s unbeaten run
Riley had a shocker at Old Trafford 20 years ago, and that was the reason why Arsenal’s unbeaten run ended after 49 games.
Ruud van Nisterlrooy should’ve been sent off for a terrible tackle on Ashley Cole. The referee ignored that, but it was such a bad challenge that the Dutchman was retrospectively banned for three games for serious foul play.
In the same half, Rio Ferdinand fouled Freddie Ljungberg when he was through on goal. He didn’t get a red card either, and United continued with 11 men on the pitch.
The most controversial decision of the game came in the second half. Wayne Rooney dived to trick the referee into awarding the penalty, and Riley fell for it. He pointed to the spot and Van Nistelrooy scored to put the hosts 1-0 up.
As we said above, Riley’s performance that day was one of the worst we have ever seen from a referee. If he had got all three of the above decisions right, Arsenal’s unbeaten run wouldn’t have ended when it did.
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