Chapter 33: The Feud Between the Red Devils and the Arsenal

After winning a Champions League at home, the Premier League is set to take place at Old Trafford at the weekend.

Two consecutive home games will undoubtedly be quite advantageous for Manchester United, especially since their next league game is against Arsenal.

In the Champions League in midweek, Arsenal fans were not as happy as Manchester United fans. They suffered a shock 2-3 defeat at home to Olympiacos.

The defeat in the Champions League was undoubtedly a major morale blow to Arsenal, with Arteta saying: "Everyone was disappointed after that game, but even if we don't play Manchester United next time, we should have plenty of motivation. We need to get back on our feet and we have the strength to bounce back. ”

There is no doubt that the Arsenal side are seeing this game against Manchester United as a key game for their bounce back.

When it comes to Manchester United and Arsenal, there is so much to tell about these two teams.

The conflict between Manchester United and Arsenal is the talk of the media almost every season, and it is the focus of attention of anti-dumping fans.

The contradiction and spark between Ferguson and Arsene Wenger is the confrontation between the two longest-standing coaches in the Premier League, and it is also the main gimmick of the previous Premier League.

But with the retirement of Ferguson, as well as Arsenal's unenterprising and passable attitude in recent years, the intensity of the confrontation between the two teams has dropped to the bottom in the past ten years.

And before that, how fierce was the confrontation between Manchester United and Arsenal?

"The most famous gang fight in the league, which happened to Manchester United, is a matter of course. Of course, the opponent is Arsenal, which is even more obvious. - wrote the Manchester Evening News on its front page.

In fact, the contradiction between Arsenal and Manchester United is really not a mortal enemy, their contradiction did not exist from the beginning, in the summer of 1987, Ferguson also bought Vivianderson from the Arsenal team, and there is no life-and-death contradiction between the two teams. Arsenal's real rivals are their north London neighbours, Tottenham Hotspur.

Throughout the 80s, Arsenal was super strong, Manchester United was only a midstream powerhouse, and did not have the strength to compete with Arsenal for the title, even in temperament, Manchester United was not strong, and only Robson was a superstar in England at that time. However, when Alex Ferguson arrived at Manchester United, it inspired Manchester United's blood and injected iron-blooded play, tough fighting spirit and brave spirit into Manchester United. Manchester United's players were first mentally stronger, so when they met Arsenal, who were also rough and tough, the two teams naturally sparked. At the beginning of 1987, Manchester United, under the leadership of Alex Ferguson, knocked down the then menacing Arsenal 2:0, causing Arsenal to lose the league title in the end. Manchester United's style of play was as brutal and direct as their opponents, and Arsenal suffered a lot of surprise. At that time, the two teams were considered to be close.

In the following seasons, the matches between Arsenal and Manchester United were almost very strong, and the sparks on the pitch continued, although the London team was stronger, but the Red Devils under Ferguson were not afraid of Arsenal's power style of play at all, and did not suffer. The sparks provoked by the repeated brushes of guns undoubtedly made the hatred grow deeper and deeper, and the two teams slowly turned into mortal enemies. Every encounter in the arena means a "martial arts exchange" or a "medal battle". Finally, this season, the conflict between the two teams broke out fiercely, and they teamed up to stage a group fight.

That was in the 1990-1991 season, when United hosted Arsenal on 20 October 1990. Arsenal are aiming for the title, United are equally hungry and the Reds were humiliated by Winterburn and the crowd at the end of the game that narrowed to a brawl between McClairre and Winterburn in the last game. Therefore, this game can be imagined to be fierce. McClair and Winterburn are even more enemies, and they are very angry when they see each other, and they do it directly from the beginning. The game was hot and intense, and the referee's whistle kept sounding, but it only cut the game to pieces, but did not effectively control the scene. Failure to play a card in time to eject the troublesome player was considered one of the biggest mistakes of the referee after the game. Arsenal dominated the game in a fierce battle, with Andreas Sripa scoring the only goal of the game to give a 1-0 win over Manchester United. However, Arsenal's victory was insignificant, and what was remembered by posterity and played up by the media was the large-scale mass brawl that swept almost all 22 players, which we also called the hottest gang brawl.

The game set the tone with a flying tackle at the beginning, and the players of both teams were enthusiastic and eager to brew a hand-to-hand fight.

And the poor referee actually lost his square inch, let the situation develop, and the blowing penalty obviously could not control the development of the situation. As a result, the two teams were even more congested, their tough moves became bigger and bigger, and the fouls began to escalate. Foul action can be seen almost everywhere, such as flying tackles, elbow strikes, pushes, and spitting on each other, which are commonplace, and they have not stopped for a moment since the opening.

Winterburn first tackled McClair, but McClair dodged him, who turned around and sarcastically mocked the Arsenal man. And every time McClair waited for Winterburn to get the ball, he also waited for a flying tackle, regardless of whether there would be a serious injury.

Both of them were very out-of-the-ordinary and immediately affected their respective teammates. Then there was Manchester United's McClair spitting with Adams; Winterburn was red-eyed and fouled the United players roughly; However, the runaway incident did not come from a bad foul in Winterburn, nor was it McClair's martial arts show, although the two had long been enough to get a red card. The fight took place between the defenders of both sides. Arsenal's defender Limpal suddenly lost control, he had also been fouled by Manchester United players many times before, only to see him angry, and couldn't help but rush forward to knock down Erwin, Erwin naturally fought back directly, and the two fought together.

McClair came over to help get rid of Limpal, and then joined Erwin in kicking the arriving Winterburn to the ground. The game was interrupted, a brawl was staged, and almost every player from both sides joined the fight. The brawl that broke out in an instant was fierce and savage, no one persuaded the fight, and the players of both teams jumped directly and beat each other.

United had plenty of good fighters in the squad, and Paul Ince was known for his toughness, sending Limpal to a pitchside billboard and knocking Winterburn to the ground with a back-punch, which sparked a larger clash between the two sides, involving the players and staff on the bench.

When the substitutes and those who weren't on the game squad rushed into the field to join the team, the police stepped in. Of course, Arsenal's staff, bench staff, including assistant coaches, were also not idle. The two sides were in full swing on the pitch, on the bench, on the turf, and even in the goal, there were crowds of people fighting everywhere, and the scene of large-scale brawls was spectacular. Angry scolding, screaming, punching and kicking, the sound is in the ears; Meteor punches, shadowless feet, and big slaps appear in turn. At first, the referee also planned to separate the players from both sides, but he soon found that things were out of control, so he could only watch the excitement from the sidelines.

The scene of the group brawl became more and more intense, and the fans on the sidelines were even ready to move. If it weren't for the alert police at the stadium and the staff at Manchester United to stop the fans who wanted to flock to the fight and persuade more people on both sides not to get involved, this incident could have caused another big tragedy.

In this brawl, of all 22 players on both sides, only Arsenal's Seaman did not participate in the brawl. As a result of the brawl, almost everyone wore a lottery. In addition to what the team doctor can handle, 11 players from both sides have even been sent to the hospital to have their wounds bandaged and examined pending further medical treatment.

There is no doubt that this is the worst group brawl in the history of both teams.

This brawl has completely turned the two teams against each other.

Ferguson certainly won't let any team ride on his own head and Manchester United. "Football is welcome, fights are welcome." It was his response. Of course, his Manchester United strictly enforced such a creed, showing the fierceness and ferocity of a bloody army.

Later, with the gradual growth of Manchester United's 92 class and others. Ryan Giggs, Neville, Paul Scholes and David Beckham are the youngsters who are gradually starting to make a big splash in United's squad. Alex Ferguson's first Red Devils reigned in the Premier League, and in 1999, United won the treble for the first time in history!

Arsenal ushered in a new coach Arsene Wenger, under the leadership of Wenger, Arsenal's golden age gradually took shape in the early years of the 21st century, in the 2003-2004 season, Wenger's Arsenal, which has Henry, Vieira, Cole, Bergkamp, Pire and other strong divisions, with an unbeaten record that season, won the Premier League championship that year.

At that time, Manchester United had just passed the first transition period, and the Red Devils' No. 7 David Beckham left Real Madrid due to the flying shoe goal, and Manchester United entered a brief transition period.

During this period, two young players, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo, matured, and with the likes of Edwin van der Sar and Rio Ferdinand at the back, the Reds gradually recovered.

Arsenal, on the other hand, are at their peak. In the 2004-2005 season, before Arsenal met Manchester United, it was unbeaten in 49 games across the season, which was the top team in Europe at that time, and it was Arsenal's heyday.

However, Arsenal's 49-game unbeaten run came to an end at the hands of Manchester United.

However, the most talked-about thing about that game was which Arsenal player threw the pizza at Ferguson. Although all the evidence points to Cesc Fabregas, Xiaofa himself did not admit it, and the mystery has not been completely solved, and we can only know from Ashley Cole's description in his autobiography that "the piece of pizza hit Sir Alex Ferguson straight in the face".

And the day the pizza flew in the tunnel at Old Trafford was also the day Arsenal's 49-game unbeaten run was interrupted.

It also seemed to be a turning point in the fortunes of the Arsenal team, as the Gunners under Arsene Wenger lost their sharpness and vigour, and victory became elusive for them.

Since that season, Arsenal, the former king, has never touched the trophy of the Premier League. With the economic pressure brought by the new stadium, Arsenal began to gradually reduce investment, the style of the whole team is no longer fierce and iron-blooded, and the temperament has become much softer than before, the team began to be satisfied with "fighting for four", and fans often talk about the 49-game unbeaten streak, because this is the most glorious moment for Arsenal in the past twenty or thirty years.

Arsenal has been in decline for ten years, but the contradictions with Manchester United still exist.

Before the start of this round of the Premier League, Arsene Wenger did not forget to damage his old rival Alex Ferguson in an interview, even if he is retired.

"I'm going to retire sooner or later, please don't worry. However, I haven't decided when I will retire yet, and I will tell you when it is officially decided. I've heard it happen many times, a lot of coaches will say 'I'm going to retire next year', but they keep going. I'm not sure when I'll retire yet, but what I do know is that if I do, I'll keep my promise and retire (not put it off again). Arsene Wenger said.

This sentence undoubtedly hurt Ferguson.

In the 01/02 season, Ferguson announced his retirement at the end of the season before the start of the season.

This led to a disillusionment in the early stages of that season, with them trailing the top team by more than a dozen points. In the middle of the season, Ferguson changed his mind and announced a delayed retirement.

And since that season, Ferguson has brought Rooney Rooney and Ronaldo, and Ferguson has set out to build his second generation of the Red Devils.

In addition to losing an old rival, Wenger also expressed his helplessness about Li Qingshan's choice to go to Manchester United.

Prior to this, the English media broke the news that Wenger wanted to sign Li Qingshan before he went to Atletico Madrid, but because Arsenal was only willing to pay 3 million euros at that time, and Atletico Madrid paid 5 million more than Arsenal. Naturally, Manchester United chose to let the players talk to the teams with high bidders.

In the end, Li Qingshan returned to Manchester United and helped the Red Devils continue to win with continuous goals.

Li Qingshan's agent is Raiola, who single-handedly runs the deal for Li Qingshan to join Manchester United. According to some English media grapevines, in order to get Li Qingshan, Manchester United gave Raiola, the vampire agent, more than 15 million euros in commissions. It's no wonder that in Li Qingshan's choice of transfer, Raiola will say so many good things to Manchester United.

In this regard, Wenger was helpless: "A few years ago, we hoped to sign Li Qingshan, but in the end it didn't work out. And this summer, he chose another club that, you know, is special. ”

Since then, Li Qingshan has also become a member of the temperature difference sign. and Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar, Ibrahimovic ........... others and others.

If all the "players that Wenger almost signed" were formed into a team, Li Qingshan would even consider whether he could play in the starting team in this team...........